DeSantis to Boycott NBC and Its Affiliates Until Andrea Mitchell Corrects ‘Blatant Lie’

The NBC News logo is affixed to the corner of 10 Rockefeller Plaza, NBC's today show studio in New York City in this file photo. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on social media that it will not consider any requests for interviews from NBC and MSNBC until Andrea Mitchell corrects a “blatant lie.”

During her Feb. 17 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, Andrea Mitchell, host of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” asked a question that set off a social media firestorm.

“Let me ask you,” Mitchell said, “what does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida’s schoolchildren?”

“I don’t know what he knows and what he doesn’t know,” Harris replied. “But I do know this. Any push to censor America’s teachers and tell them what they should be teaching in the best interest of our children in partnership with the parents of America is, I think, wrong-headed. The people who know our children best are their parents and their teachers in terms of the time they spend and the investment they’ve placed in the brains and capacity of our children who are our nation’s future and it should not be some politician saying what should be taught in our classrooms.”

The Background

In January, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) formally rejected a proposal to include an Advanced Placement (AP) African American History course in the curriculum of any public high school because its content conflicts with state law.

“As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” state Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said in a Jan. 12 letter (pdf) to the College Board Florida Partnership, suggesting that “should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically-accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.”

Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. provides comments at a meeting of the Florida Board of Education on Jan. 18, 2023. (Screenshot/The Florida Channel)

In a subsequent report, The Epoch Times described how advocates of the rejected course gathered at the Capitol in Tallahassee to protest.

Democrat state House Leader Fentrice Driskell accused DeSantis of “undermining the rights of parents and students to make their own decisions,” saying “Black history is American history” and “the truth is the truth.”

Democrat state Sen. Geraldine Thompson said “it’s time out for hypocrisy!”

“We are told by Ron DeSantis that this time of history has no educational value,” Thompson asserted, adding that “if it’s not taught then someone needs to be held accountable.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump—who gained national recognition for representing the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery—threatened legal action on behalf of three black Florida students if the course is not implemented.

While not widely available, the original syllabus for AP African American Studies, Course Framework, and Exam Overview (pdf) was obtained by The Epoch Times.

On Jan. 20, Diaz posted on Twitter a detailed list of concerns the DOE found within the course:

• Topic 4.15 Intersectionality and Activism—Diaz said this is foundational to critical race theory, which is banned by Florida by law, and ranks people based on their wealth, gender, and sexual orientation.
• Topic 4.19 Black Queer Studies—Included reading is author Roderick Ferguson, who encourages the development of practices “related to race, class, gender, and sexuality.”
• Topic 4.29 Movements for Black Lives—Diaz said Black Lives Matter advocates for the elimination of prisons and jails and pushes the idea that there is a “war on Black trans, queer, gender non-conforming, and intersex people.”
• Topic 4.16 Black Feminist Literary Thought—Includes books by author Bell Hooks, who advocates for intersectionality and has stated, “I began to use the phrase in my work ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ because I wanted to have some language that would actually remind us continually of the interlocking systems of domination that define our reality.”
• Topic 4.30 The Reparations Movement—All points and resources in this section advocate for reparations, Diaz said, adding that there is no critical perspective or balancing opinion in this lesson.
• Topic 4.31 Black Study and Black Struggle in the 21st Century—Included reading is author Robin Kelly, who advocates that activism rather than the university system is the catalyst for social transformation.

The Facts

Despite the opinion expressed by Harris during the interview that “parents” were among “the people who know our children best,” and that politicians had no place in “saying what should be taught in our classrooms,” neither Mitchell nor Harris mentioned that liberal politicians, teachers, and even the head of a teacher’s union have long advocated that parents have no business involving themselves in what their children are exposed to in schools.

They also failed to address the fact that teaching CRT is prohibited in Florida schools by law, while the teaching of factual African American history, including slavery, is required.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis displays the signed Parental Rights in Education bill flanked by elementary school students during a news conference at Classical Preparatory school in Shady Hills, Fla., on March 28, 2022. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Florida Statute 1003.42 requires the teaching of African American history, “including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of African Americans to society.”

“However,” the Florida DOE clarifies, “classroom instruction and curriculum may not be used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view inconsistent with the principles enumerated in subsection (3) or the state academic standards.”

“We proudly require the teaching of African American history,“ Diaz said in his Jan. 20 post. ”We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education.”

The Boycott

During the Feb. 20 edition of her program, Mitchell failed to issue a correction.

At the end of her Feb. 22 morning broadcast, Mitchell issued a statement, saying she was “imprecise in summarizing Governor DeSantis’ position about teaching slavery in schools,” adding that “Governor DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools but he has opposed the teaching of an African American Studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since.”

Mitchell did not identify the “historians and teachers” referenced in her statement. Nor did she report that Florida law requires the teaching of African American history, including slavery.

On Feb. 22, DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin responded on Twitter.

“To all of the bookers and producers reaching out to our office @NBCNews and @MSNBC for @GovRonDeSantis to join your shows, this will be the standard response from our office until @mitchellreports apologizes and your track record improves,” Griffin wrote, with an attached screenshot from a written response.

“I think we need to take a step back,” the attached response begins. “There will be no consideration of anything related to NBC Universal or its affiliates until and at least Andrea Mitchell corrects the blatant lie she made about the governor ... and NBC and its affiliates display a consistent track record of truthful reporting. Please feel free to pass this up and around the network.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to MSNBC for comment.