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Former TODAY Show host Katie Couric is facing extreme backlash after making a startling admission in her new book, Going There. Couric wrote that she omitted a portion of an interview she conducted with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016.
In the version of the interview that was published, Ginsburg described kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest as "dumb and disrespectful." However, it appears that Ginsburg went a step further in the unedited version. The former Supreme Court Justice said that kneeling before the anthem showed "contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life."
"Which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from...as they became older they realize that this was youthful folly. And that's why education is important," Ginsburg said, according to an excerpt of Going There obtained by Daily Mail.
Couric claims that she omitted Ginsburg's extended comments because she was a "big RBG fan" and wanted to "protect" her from criticism. Many have criticized the veteran journalist for working to protect a Supreme Court Justice rather than those protesting against police brutality. Adding on, others slammed Ginsburg's comments about athletes protesting on behalf of those killed by police like Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner and so many others.
"Shocking -- said nobody familiar with RBG's clerkship hiring record," The Nation Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal tweeted.
"Yes, what Katie Couric did was unethical. But knowing now that Ginsburg said folks like Kaepernick were 'dumb and disrespectful' for their kneeling protests is just another reminder to stop making heroes out of the people whom we are charged with covering," Vox Senior Correspondent Jamil Smith added.
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