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VP Vance criticizes Talbert Swan ll, president of Springfield’s NAACP, in social media post

Bishop Talbert Swan II, president of the Springfield, Massachusetts, chapter of the NAACP in June , 2020.
Ben James
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NEPM
Bishop Talbert Swan II, president of the Springfield, Massachusetts, chapter of the NAACP in June , 2020.

In a social media post, U.S. Vice President JD Vance is criticizing the head of Springfield's NAACP.

Bishop Talbert Swan ll says he heard an audio clip he believed to be Vance throwing insults at Trump advisor, Elon Musk. Then, Swan wrote on X "the infighting has begun."

The vice president responded on the social media platform saying the audio is not him and was generated by AI. He then insulted Swan for not knowing the difference. Swan responded saying he'll make a deal with the VP.

"I said I'll remove my post when you apologize to the Haitian migrants that you defamed and disrespected. Of course, I haven't received a response to that," he said.

Swan was referring to negative comments Vance made about the Haitian community last year, accusing the migrant community of abducting and eating pets.

"He doubled down on repeating that lie, and he has never retracted it or apologized to those people who he smeared," he said.

Swan did confirm that Vance's communication team eventually told him directly the audio is fake. He added that many major media outlets including Fox News posted the audio making him think it was legitimate.

Nirvani Williams covers socioeconomic disparities for New England Public Media, joining the news team in June 2021 through Report for America.
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