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Marco Rubio's John Lewis tribute gaffe is appropriately, savagely mocked

This is what you get for confusing John Lewis with Elijah Cummings.

Alison Foreman

on July 18, 2020

Marco Rubio's John Lewis tribute gaffe is appropriately, savagely mocked

Yikes. Credit: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

On Saturday, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) inserted both of his feet into his mouth with a poorly executed tribute to late civil rights legend, John Lewis (D-GA).

In a since-deleted tweet, Rubio shared a photo of himself and Elijah Cummings (D-MD), another late, highly celebrated Black lawmaker, captioning the image: "It was an honor to know & be blessed with the opportunity to serve in Congress with JohnLewis [sic] a genuine & historic American hero. May the Lord grant him eternal peace."

Within moments, comments arrived informing Rubio of the mix-up, many of them pointing out its racist undertones and abundant hypocrisy. Some light internet sleuthing indicates the confusion may have stemmed from the incorrect captioning of the image by its photographer Lauren Schneiderman, who has since removed the picture from her website and has not responded to Mashable's request for comment.

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(H/t Mashable tech reporter Matt Binder for sussing out that Lewis wasn't even present at the event Schneiderman photographed, thanks to public record.)

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After leaving the photo of himself and Cummings up as his Twitter profile picture for about a half hour, Rubio issued a correction, hilariously featuring a screenshot from a YouTube video in which Lewis and Rubio are seen posing for a photo. (Where that photo is from, Mashable couldn't assess.)

"Earlier today I tweeted an incorrect photo," Rubio said. "John Lewis was a genuine American hero I was honored to appear together in Miami 3 years ago at an event captured in video below My God grant him eternal rest"

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Of course, a gaffe as gloriously atrocious as this one couldn't go unrecognized. Images of Rubio next to "John Lewis" (AKA any and all Black public figures) cropped up alongside those honoring "Marco Rubio" himself (AKA nondescript white politicians, a corgi's butt, and a wet sock??) swiftly and spectacularly.

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Topics Memes Politics

Alison Foreman

Alison Foreman is one heck of a gal. She's also a writer in Los Angeles, who used to cover movies, TV, video games, and the internet for Mashable. @alfaforeman