Out MSNBC reporter Thomas Roberts was overcome with emotion covering a vigil Friday for the nine black churchgoers who died in the horrific church massacre last week in Charleston.
At the same moment the bond was being set for Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old accused of the June 17 attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roberts observed a mass of people join the vigil.
“You can see the outpouring of support for his community,” says Roberts, struggling to gather himself. “It goes all the way down the street of people who showed up at the exact same time that this arraignment was going on.”
What Roberts didn’t know was that the crowd was due in large part to Glenn Beck, who flew to Charleston and urged people to join him at the church in prayer. He’s even visible in the below video.
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During Roof’s arraignment, some family members of victims stepped forward to forgive Roof.
“Hate won’t win,” Alana Simmons, granddaughter of victim Daniel Simmons, told the accused. “My grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate. Everyone’s plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies live in love.”
Watch Below:
h/t HuffPost
Hun
https://imgflip.com/i/n8k1i
SeeingAll
If that spree killing had happened at a gay bar those S.C. church folk would be saying “..their lifestyle brought it on themelves..”
o.codone
Because… Thomas Roberts is a girl, that’s why. boo hoo.
Glücklich
@SeeingAll:
Now is not the time.
Glücklich
Dylann Roof…Adam Lanza…probably others. Nasty bowl haircuts are the obvious common thread. You see one of those bowl cuts, run like the wind!
SeeingAll
Now is the time as much as any other time. How many gays and lesbians are regularly killed because of their rhetoric ? I’m not going to be mushy and pick and choose when to express discontent with the church folk.
SeeingAll
( But…true: re. those haircuts).
BJ McFrisky
I call BS.
Roberts has frequently made clear his disdain for organized religion due to its position on gay marriage, but now he’s suddenly weepy for church ladies? Had this been a church of white people, or had the shooter been a Muslim, I doubt Roberts would’ve even shown up, much less shed a tear.
Seems more like he’s adhering to Rahm Emanuel’s infamous quote to “Never let a good crisis go to waste” than mourning the deaths of innocents.
Giancarlo85
@BJ McFrisky: Oh please. Just because somebody disagrees with organized religion, doesn’t mean they want harm or death on those who died in this attack. In fact, one can mourn too. You really love twisting things around for some demented political agenda.
NoCagada
@BJ McFrisky: You may as well call BS because you sure smell like it.
ingyaom
Is there a gay angle to this story that I’m missing?
TrueWords
@ingyaom: if you can not see the connection of killing of innocent black people by someone filled with hatred and gays then you are an idiot
Jonty Coppersmith
@TrueWords:
Thank you!
TrueWords
@BJ McFrisky: you need a dick in your mouth before you speak…that may help speed up your brain cells…Thomas is crying because of the heinous attacks and the lose of life…he is a human being and does not need any religious connections to make him emotional…being human is enough…
Masc Pride
@SeeingAll: That was a really callous statement.
@ingyaom: Thomas Roberts is gay.
ingyaom
I guess that explains it.
Arcamenel
Only white gays would feel the need to comment on homophobia on an article about the slaying of black people by a self-proclaimed white supremacist. It always has to go back to you and your feelings doesn’t it?
When someone sets off a bomb in a white gay club I’ll make sure to pop a few bottles.
TrueWords
@Arcamenel: very well stated…..so many white gays think that they have not been affected and influenced by their upbringing in America…they spent a large part of their life experiencing the benefits of being white and then later on their gayness became a factor but for some the view has already been slanted against other races and especially Black Americans…also many gay men continue into their adult life to isolated from other races for a variety of reasons…
tdh1980
@SeeingAll: There is no “win” in the massacre of nine people at the hands of a r@cist tool because you have issues with organized religion, but as, presumably, a gay white man, I guess it’s easy for you to harbor that type of sentiment. Unfortunately, for queer black people it’s not so easy to compartmentalize, and considering no evidence yet found that the victims were anti-LGBT rights, you assume far more than you should.
Giancarlo85
@TrueWords: I’ll go even further… white gay men even discriminate against other gay men (often those who are black, latino or of other ethnic minorities). They often cast them aside and don’t want them part of their group.
The massacre and motive of hatred behind it affects us all. This has an immensely negative impact on everyone.
If Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were alive, they would be deeply upset at seeing how little this nation has progressed.
aliengod
@tdh1980: Ditto!
TrueWords
@Giancarlo85: In order to gain entrance and keep entrance you have to be something that they aspire to WANT and NEED…once you fall aside you are left with nothing…lastly, there are plenty of gay white men who will sleep with a black man in the darkness of the night but not walk hand in hand in the brightness of the day…this also goes both ways because so many black men are HAPPY to be the sexual conquest or Mandingo stereotype but then cry racism when they FINALLY aspire to more and barred entrance…
edwardnvirginia
RE: comments of BJ McFrisky and comments back to same:
It is nearly by definition ‘hypocritical’ for someone to 1. admire the victims’ family members’ exceptional respect for human dignity (including the human dignity of the killer), dedication to the beliefs of their murdered family members (by coming to the courtroom to speak to the killer about forgiveness), and their own religious faith and practice and to 2. deride the Christianity that these family members and victims act from.
One could not – with intellectual or ethical integrity – deride all Christianity, as many routinely blog here, and still admire the words and behaviors and acts of these family members.
One could, perhaps, say that all Christianity – except this sort that s/he/they admire – should be criticized, derided, mocked. Of course that is a slippery ethical slope since s/he/they may soon need to make further exceptions. For example, ‘the Pope should be mocked, except for his teaching on care of ‘Mother/Sister Earth’. etc etc etc.
If you wish to mock Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other religion very well: do so. But it is hypocritical, then, to admire some part of what you mock. Just at it is hypocritical to admire what you mock … if you are an adult.
BJ McFrisky
@TrueWords: Your obsession with victimology is exactly what’s wrong with you liberals these days. All your world is perceived through a prism of race. You have no identity if you don’t feel you’re being oppressed by conniving rich white people, conspiring to kill the planet, civil rights, you and me, etc. You point to the actions of one or two insane people as proof. Your agenda has drowned out any modicum of common sense you might have once possessed.
Professor O. G. Whataschnozell
Queerty, rather than going on with this “your posting comments to fast” bull shit why not simply say we prefer for you not to comment.
Giancarlo85
@BJ McFrisky: You’re hysterical. You have really nothing backing your non-logical thoughts. Victimology? Is that why conservative and right wingers always claim they are the victims? I think you have it all screwed up. You’re blaming the wrong people. One can only point to the insane actions of the entire republican party to see what the real motives are. The republican party is controlled by organized crime, rich corporations and elitists.
Have fun supporting political beliefs that are against your own interests!
darian
@Giancarlo85: Come on now you know bj is just gonna say some shit like he’s not conservative or Republican and hide guys shame by claiming he’s an independent. It’s his same troll song and dance. Just like he sticks up for white homophobes. You can pretty much set your clock by it.
darian
@BJ McFrisky: Do you even know what identity means? Or liberals stand for?
gjg64
@o.codone: and you’re just a douche.
gjg64
@BJ McFrisky: Wow, I bet you’re just a blast at parties. I’m a confirmed agnostic and loathe most religion but I’m still sad when I hear of innocent people being slaughtered while going about their lives.
BJ McFrisky
@gjg64: You misinterpret.
I mourn the senseless slaughter in Charleston. The piece of shit who did it should be put to death—slowly. My point was directed at the varied responses, not the abominable act itself. I never implied I was indifferent to the situation.
Xzamilio
@BJ McFrisky: The problem is your alternate scenario to what happened in Charleston is purely conjecture. As a black man, I have seen my fellow black people take instances and make them about race when it most certainly not, but when you have as clear cut a case as Dylann Roof, your dismissive attitude speaks multitudes as to your disdain. You don’t know what his reaction would have been because it has not happened, but what you DO know is if it had, Fox News would be on it like white on rice, giving it round the clock coverage.
I see your subsequent responses, but your initial one still needed a reply. And while I don’t like your response, I will say that you do hold yourself well against the vitriolic attacks against you in the peanut gallery.
TrueWords
@BJ McFrisky: LISTEN UP!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p8PphRUji4
jason smeds
While I can understand Thomas Roberts’ emotions, has he ever stopped and thought about the appalling amount of intra-racial violence in cities like Chicago? Blacks are killing blacks at an appalling rate. Where are Thomas Roberts’ tears over that?
Black-on-black violence is an appalling scourge which the liberal mainstream media conveniently minimizes. Blacks are also guilty of minimizing the violence within their community.
SportGuy
@Arcamenel: Exactly. Gays should care about this story because it was a hate crime and the same people that will kill a church of black people will kill white gays just as easy. They don’t see the connection as white gays don’t think anyone else exist in the gay community except them. The only thing the community cares about is being able to get married so they can call someone their husband, even though they will continue to lie and cheat on each other and have open relationships. The race issue is straight and gay world is way more important than marriage.
jason smeds
Didn’t Thomas Roberts go to Russia to host the Miss Universe pageant? This despite the fact that Russia had just introduced harsh anti-gay laws?
Where were Thomas Roberts’ tears for the gay men and women who were stabbed, beaten and jailed simply for displaying the rainbow flag in a public street? Were they in short supply at the time? Was he dehydrated?
o.codone
@gjg64: i’ve flagged you b/c you’re not contributing to the discussion, you’re just name calling and your attitude is shi*tty. do you have something to say? then say it and stop being a nasty name calling bi*tch.
TrueWords
@jason smeds: I have had time to think about this notion of “black on black” crime and it does not exist…for the simple matter when a white male goes and kills his family or goes to a school and murders innocent children no one says “White on White” crime problem….it is called a mass shooting or mass killing….or when a rival Hispanic gang seeks retribution against another and kills them it is not called “Hispanic on Hispanic” crime it is called a gang murder…yes these are extreme examples used to illustrate my point…
Yet there’s no outrage or racialized debate about “white on white” violence. Instead, the myth and associated fear of “black on black” crime is sold as a legitimate, mainstream descriptive and becomes American status quo.
As the largest racial group, whites commit the majority of crimes in America. In particular, whites are responsible for the vast majority of violent crimes. With respect to aggravated assault, whites led blacks 2-1 in arrests; in forcible-rape cases, whites led all racial and ethnic groups by more than 2-1. And in larceny theft, whites led blacks, again, more than 2-1.
If we were to talk about “white-on-white crime,” then at least we’d be addressing issues like gun violence in a racially neutral way. That doesn’t happen because too many Americans remain convinced that black or brown people are the problem. The myth of black-on-black violence has become a stain on the sociopolitical consciousness and indelibly imbues mindsets as well as public policy.
Lastly, most crimes are committed against people of the same race…that is right…over 80% of crimes committed against a white person is done by another white person; over 80% of the crimes committed against a Hispanic person is done by another Hispanic person; over 80% of the crimes committed against an Asian person is done by another Asian person; etc..etc…it has LESS to do about race and MUCH MORE to do about geography to sameness.
TrueWords
Most of the conversation surrounding crime involves black people, who selfishly take all of the credit for being criminals. Blacks are notorious for being called thugs and gangsters, but the real MVPs (Most Violent People) are whites. Everyday in cities across the country, people die at the hands of white people. What’s more, they’re killing their own kind. According to the US Department of Justice statistics, 84 percent of white people killed every year are killed by other whites. In 2011, there were more cases of whites killing whites than there were of blacks killing blacks. Between 1980 to 2008, a majority (53.3 percent) of gang-related murders were committed by white people, with a majority of the homicide victims being white as well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kerry-coddett/white-on-white-crime-an-u_b_6771878.html
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/table-43
o.codone
@TrueWords: nobody’s listening. 🙂
TrueWords
@o.codone: Knowledge is not desired, self-righteous ignorance is preferred
2500amy
Why does it have to be about gay or straight black or white this guy is human .When I heard about this it made me cry , these people did not harm anybody they were doing there on thing having bible study trying to live there lives stop trying to people in your little box .I am white gay man and do have feeling for this families that lost there loves ones . Also I am from the south maybe people from north may not understand about people having feeling for other people.
blackberry finn
I’m sure you’re all very nice people between sentences.
Giancarlo85
@o.codone: You haven’t ever contributed anything to any conversation you have had on here. You just belittle other people. Now go back to your friend Rush Limbaugh!
jwtraveler
@o.codone: @Glücklich: @BJ McFrisky: Your stupidity is mind-boggling.
Mr C
WOW QUEERTY I see nothing. Has changed with this audience
DarkZephyr
This was a horrible tragedy.
DarkZephyr
And Dylann Roof needs to be strung up by his toes.
@SeeingAll: These Church people have done nothing to you. I know your comment was based on an anti-Christian attitude rather than the anti-Black one that Arcamenel would love to believe you possessed but its still tacky and douche-baggy. These Church goers have never done a damned thing to you. WE could learn something from their surviving loved ones. The forgiveness in their hearts for that r*cist THUG who took away those most precious to them is an inspiration to us ALL. To *ALL* of us. I am very disappointed in what I am reading in this comment section. Some of you who are speaking out against r*cism seem utterly oblivious to your own despite how blatant it is. Anyway, we could definitely ALL learn something from the surviving loved ones of the victims.
mrrasheed
@BJ McFrisky: What kind of monster are you? Sounds like you could be the next mass murderer. A human being becomes overwhelmed watching a vigil after an act of Domestic Terrorism and you call bullshit. Where is your humanity?
BlogShag
What the hell is wrong with the South? Will they ever grow up? They’re beyond embarrassing.. Makes me ashamed to be a USA citizen, even though I know other countries aren’t immune to this kind of nonsense. I feel like flooding their towns with a bunch of porn from Rawstrokes.com
Glücklich
@jwtraveler:
Sounds like someone’s got a bowl cut.
patricko
I forgive all of you who made stupid comments above.
BJ McFrisky
@mrrasheed: I have excessive sympathy for the victims and their families of this atrocity. I just question the motives of those who utilize it for a)political gain (guns are bad! flags are bad! whites are bad!), or b)to showcase their humanity to the world when it’s oh-so PC to do so, but have no such emotional breakdown when the victims aren’t an “oppressed” group.
@Xzamilio: Looking back at it, my initial comment was a tad over-the-top in its criticism of Mr. Roberts, but my perception is that reporters and politicians who cry on camera do so to influence their reputation, not out of any true compassion. Either way, I find it grossly self-promotional and/or amateurish when a “professional” begins to weep on camera.
scotshot
@BlogShag:
Racism is not confined to the south. No matter where you are in America – the world actually – you are surrounded by bigots and racism.
Whatever could be accomplished by distributing porn? Might it be more practical to stand up to these “people” and publicly call them out and shame them?
scotshot
@Arcamenel: Why don’t you go back to The Blaze? Antigay comments and bigots such as you are not welcome or tolerated here. F*ck off
scotshot
@TrueWords: You’ve stated you agree with him that if a bomb went off in a “white gay club” that you’d celebrate with him? It appears we have more than a few bigots of all types posting here.
scotshot
@jason smeds: Thanks for the F**N*** talking points.
scotshot
@o.codone: Thanks for the most amusing post I’ve seen today, especially your closing line “….stop being a nasty name calling bi*tch.” Thanks for proving ignorance has no limits!
Saint Law
@BJ McFrisky: “I have excessive sympathy for the victims and the families of this atrocity.”
Excessive huh. Yeah, well, they’re only black people after all, right?
SeeingAll
Dark Zephyr : shush now ; I’ve never seen anything on Queerty but hatred for anything Christian (Catholic, Protestant, and the Orthodox ones) especiallly southern Christians and every blame put on them for every gaybashing, and plenty of wishes for harm to come to them, and nobody bats an eye. So why is anyone so upset now just because it’s politically correct (even if they were killed for the wrong reasons, by another probable homophobe)?
Blackceo
I was really hoping Queerty wouldn’t find a way to post an article that could lead to a discussion of that crazy ass domestic terrorist responsible for the Emanuel AME massacre because I knew it would bring out the absolute lowest of the lows of ignorant gay fucks that exist in this site. The sheer level of stupid is just…I can’t. Anytime there is an article about race, particularly about Black people it just really shows how ignorant many people are, and how clueless they are about issues; yet are the know it alls for everything Black. Please sit down.
DarkZephyr
@scotshot: What I find ironic about that whole “celebrating if a bunch of white gay men die horribly” commentary is that scrolling up I cannot find one comment where anyone has stated “I celebrate the deaths of black gays”. SeeingAll made a stupid assed anti-Christian comment unrelated to race and that is it. But those two feel perfectly justified and vindicated in their statements about celebrating at the mass deaths of white gays. And yet they are calling others r*cist.
@SeeingAll: Where on Queerty have there been comments celebrating the mass deaths of Christians? You know where? In YOUR post. There are NO actual articles gleefully celebrating mass murder of ANY type. YOU need some professional help, Buddy.
darian
@Blackceo: I agree with you. I personally don’t think the gay community is ready to have a conversation about race.
SeeingAll
DarkZephyr : There sure are. On Queerty and every gay blog. Pushing them out of airplanes, feeding them to the lions….You’re the one who needs help if you’re in denial over that one. (And my post about this mass shooting isn’t “gleeful” either. I’m just not going to go along with the hypocrisy of the rest of you).
SeeingAll
DarkZephyr : AND…on top of that, in NYC I’ve had to deal with gays laughing about how many straight firemen died on 9-11 (and joking about gay victim Father Judge because he was Catholic). Drag queens doing high kicking 9-11 jokes, etc. I didn’t hear any criticism from you over that one.
Giancarlo85
There have been no comments on here celebrating the deaths of christians. Stop trying to be a fucking apologist. Nobody is buying it. I can’t believe the trolls that crawl there way on here… rather despicable.
stanhope
I just love Thomas Roberts. For the life of me I don’t understand the hub bub about Don Lemon. Thomas Roberts is worlds better.
DarkZephyr
@SeeingAll: “DarkZephyr : There sure are. On Queerty and every gay blog.”
Lie. Not on Queerty or any other gay blog I have ever read.
@SeeingAll: I have never been to NYC and I have never ever heard any gay person laughing about the deaths of straight fire fighters. You have never heard me commenting about it because I have never heard or seen it. So enough with your strawmen and seek help.
SeeingAll
No, you seek help, Dark. Enough of your denial. I’d tell you to start reading any of the Christian-subject posts in just the last week on Queerty, you’ll read them, and you’ll still deny it.
Giancarlo85
@SeeingAll: Care to post any proof? Or are you just going by your feelings? Seems to me we have some kind of religious nut on here.
stanhope
@o.codone: I just love Thomas Roberts. For the life of me I don’t understand the hub bub about Don Lemon. Thomas Roberts is worlds better. Can anybody be this stupid….apparently so….go back to dateless land and the bottom of the pile at the baths.
scotshot
@SeeingAll: @SeeingAll Thanks for posting more right wing talking points. I’ve never heard a gay or hetero make any kind of 9/11 jokes – though I have read that sort of comment on right wing websites such as Stormfront and The Blaze attributing them to people they hate. Feel free to visit any time you wish, but be ready to be called out for posting derogatory comments and outright lies.
Fuck off.
SeeingAll
No…you fuk off. Don’t know what Stormfront and Blaze are, but I’ll take your word for it they make 9-11 jokes. You should take my word that the NYC gay ghetto did too, especially over the ethnicities and sexualities of the firemen. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
SeeingAll
@Giancarlo85: Giancarlo : One drag queen even thought it was cute to dress up as one of the Towers and throw barbie dolls to the laughing crowd like falling bodies. As for Father Judge : That “mick” just hung out with firemen because he was hot for them, right ? (Don’t tell me what I saw and didn’t see, and hear and didn’t hear, you dumb hick. And after I went through that I’m not going to accept gays suddenly jumping on a bandwagon to defend homophobes in South Carolina).
Giancarlo85
@SeeingAll: Fuck off please. Nobody wants to hear your made up stories, shit grammar and right wing conspiracies. I never heard of gay people ever doing such a thing. You are the dumb stupid hick with right wing views and mental problems. Seek help as you really need it. You are such a moron.
Giancarlo85
@SeeingAll: Why should we take your word over anything? That is all you are. A bunch of made up stories and a steaming pile of bullshit. Your attitude is sickening.
SeeingAll
Giancarlo : YOU never hearing of gay people doing such things means….nothing. You’re probably a hick whose only contact with others is on the internet, so you can just pretend how people behave. If I start giving links here, will you show some integrity and respond? Or will you scurry away ?
Giancarlo85
@SeeingAll: You’re full of shit. You haven’t proved anything. You don’t know any gay people. Your word doesn’t mean shit. I am a Colombian guy who lives in Los Angeles (hardly a hick). You’re a white trailer trash type that lives out in Alabama who trolls gay websites. You aren’t giving any links because none exist. And why don’t you show integrity? You’re a right wing moron with no mental power at all.
SeeingAll
@Giancarlo85: I’ve lived in Los Angeles too. But I’m back in NYC. Though there’s nothing wrong with Alabama (look at Harper Lee; Talulah Bankhead; Truman Capote..) And I can tell you’re a hick. West Hollywood is full of them, actually. I’ll start with the links and….don’t forget: you started this, and you asked for them.
Giancarlo85
@SeeingAll: You’re a all new kind of stupid. There is no fixing you. How the fuck am I a hick? You’re a stupid right wing asshole and you don’t hear me saying anything about that. You don’t have any links.
BTW, if you’re right wing you’re most likely the hick and seeing as you’re white trailer trash… yeah.. my point is proven.
scotshot
@SeeingAll: @SeeingAll Do you actually think we believe you’re gay or gay friendly in any way?
Feel free to hang around though, I have a policy of not making fun of someone who is mentally challenged, for you I’ll make an exception. We all enjoy a good laugh here on Queerty and you are the newest joke. Have fun Troll!
SeeingAll
@scotshot: I’m gay. But not especially gay-friendly.