Comedian Celebrates MLK Day by Tweeting 'I Love You' at Racists

Solomon Georgio, an L.A.-based comedian, decided to celebrate Martin Luther King Day with a little nonviolent resistance. He combed Twitter for racist tweets, but instead of shaming or raging at their authors, he simply wrote something patient and kind and then added, “I love you.” The primary revelation: Racists DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO when a black person is nice to them.

The responses ranged from bewildered (“I love you to“) to the incredulous (“What the fuck“) to the idiotic (“to me, that word has no skin color attached to it“) to the sort-of-repentant (“loool im sorry man just a joke. I love you too“). For his part, Solomon remained humble:

It’s not that these pieces of shit deserve civility, or that I think being nice to racists is “better” than being hostile to them, or that I plan to conduct myself in a more Solomon-like fashion in the future (I doubt that Solomon has any such plans either). But it’s really refreshing to see how effective the high road can be once in a while.

If you want more Solomon Georgio (who, full disclosure, used to be my roommate, but I think his greatness is pretty objective), here’s a wonderful essay he wrote and here’s a video of him disemboweling Disney’s Pocahontas. (The movie, not the person. The person has suffered enough.)