Quick Question: What's Going On Here? [Updated]

By Joanna Rothkopf  |  October 19, 2016 | 9:00pm
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On Wednesday afternoon, Jonah Peretti, the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed tweeted the above series of words. Why he did that is unclear to me, and to everyone else.

The only possibilities: He is making an unfunny, racist joke; Ivanka actually said she wanted to see a “mulatto cock” and Peretti thought now was the appropriate time to reveal that. We hope to find out soon.

Update (5:20 p.m.): Jonah Peretti confirmed to BuzzFeed that he tweeted the tweet in question.

Update (5:30 p.m.): Peretti has confirmed that he actually heard Trump say those words. In a phone call with BuzzFeed News, Peretti recounted a conversation with Trump at Tropical 128, a terrible bar in Manhattan around eight-to-10 years ago. He says about five other people were there.

“She was saying how she first said she had never seen an uncircumcised cock and then she said, ‘I’ve never seen a mulatto cock. There’s lots of cocks I’ve never seen,’ or something like that,” he reportedly said.

“Of course, it was memorable just because of the use of the lewd language and racist language. It was also memorable being in the environment of being… in New York, sometimes liberal and progressive people make comments meant as jokes and not necessarily earnest. I didn’t know how to take it.”

Peretti said he had not shared the memory before because it was “said in private.” He shared them now because they were relevant to the article about lewd comments.

We have reached out to the Trump campaign and representatives for Ivanka Trump and will update if we hear back.

Update (6:00 p.m.): In a statement provided to Jezebel, Ivanka Trump unequivocally denied the story.

“I am not sure if this was meant to be a joke,” she said, “but in case there is any ambiguity, this is a complete and total lie.”

She has not yet responded to a request for clarification following BuzzFeed News’ full report.

 
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