Wayne Bradley, a Republican National Committee employee in Detroit, meant to be "lighthearted and funny" by sharing social media mockery of Islamic terrorists, he says.
Wayne Bradley leads African-American voter outreach in Michigan. (Facebook photo)
"Once I realized that some people took it the wrong way, I took it down," on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, he tells Virginia Gordan of Michigan Radio. "It wasn't until the Michigan Democratic Party made it an issue that I was aware it had offended anyone."
For its part, the state party says Bradley has been told to be more prudent. "We've asked him to exercise some caution and some sensitivity in what he shares," Sarah Anderson, communications director for the Michigan Republican Party, tells Gordan.
"He didn't create the posting. He just shared it," said Anderson. . . ."It's much ado about nothing, frankly."
Michigan Radio calls the original posts "inflammatory" in its website headline.
Original article, Tuesday afternoon:
Memo to anyone in a sensitive job: You're never off-duty, particularly on social media.
That seemingly obvious lesson is reinforced for Wayne Bradley, a Detroit political consultant who has led African-American voter outreach in Michigan for the Republican National Committee since September 2013.
He draws online criticism over his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts Sunday of the jewelry store ad spoof at right, circulating elsewhere since at least March. It shows a Muslim woman receiving a ring box with a mini-bomb above the caption "He went to Jihad's."
"People can be so sensitive and emotional," Wayne Bradley tweets after deleting three posts of this.
In Lansing, director Lonnie Scott of the political advocacy group Progress Michigan says the party should dismiss Bradley as state director of African American engagement "and public apologize." Scott, whose group is a frequent critic of the governor and other Republicans, adds:
This offensive and sophomoric post just as the holiday season rolls on is wrong on so many levels. It’s a shame that the Republican Party employs people that feel comfortable disseminating images that perpetuate inappropriate and false stereotypes about the Muslim community. . . .
Not only is this post insulting to an entire religious group, it also makes light of the conflicts we face due to terrorism and the lives that have been lost in the violence. Unfortunately, this ignorant and cavalier approach to rhetoric regarding non-white and non-Christian communities seems to be a mainstay for the Republican Party.
Dexter blogger Chris Savage picks up that statement Tuesday. He comments at Eclectablog:
You would think that a Republican working hard to reach out to black Michiganders would err on the side of not being offensive to minority groups in our state. That he would have some sense of how damaging to the Republican brand any sort of intolerance and bigotry is. . . .
The image has sparked the amount of outrage that you’d expect and he appears to have removed his Instagram post amid the backlash, tweeting: “People can be so sensitive and emotional.” . . .
This is the face of the Michigan Republican Party’s African American Engagement program and it speaks volumes.
Bradley, a 1999 MSU communications graduate, is a self-employed political adviser who set up a consultancy called American Urban Strategies two years ago. He earlier was a loan officer, mortgage branch manager and real estate broker, as well as a political blogger and radio talk show host, according to his LinkedIn page.
