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Welp, that was fast. Cheerios announced a cute sequel to its surprisingly controversial 2013 ad featuring an interracial family (the original is adorable) and though it's only a day old, it has already generated its first firing. MSNBC tweeted "“Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family" on Wednesday and RNC chairman Reince Priebus immediately said he was forbidding any Republicans from appearing on the network in response.
Griffin apologized, and, as befitting a politician, Priebus then used the opportunity to tee off on the network, praising Morning Joe (coincidentally hosted by a former Republican congressman) and picking out Melissa Harris-Perry, Ronan Farrow, Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin for particular criticism. Notably, Baldwin and Bashir are no longer with the network.
Priebus did rescind the ban, however. Griffin said that MSNBC had "dismissed the person responsible for the tweet." It was not disclosed who, exactly, that person is.
The Cheerios ad, meanwhile, has in fact stirred up the white supremacist crowd, though to a far lesser degree than the previous edition (there's still the odd remark about "racemixing propaganda" in the comments by Vlad this or Adolf that). The commentariat has been overwhelmingly positive—Republican or Democrat, presumably.
