Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is not afraid to show receipts.
The South Carolina congresswoman put CNN guest and professor Michael Eric Dyson on blast during a Thursday House Oversight Committee hearing, introducing into the official record screenshots of Dyson’s fumblingly flirtatious messages to Mace.
Mace described the circumstances behind the texts in the hearing, saying Dyson “begged me for photos, in this text, after calling me a racist on CNN,” writing her, “‘shh, don’t tell anybody, we look good together,’ and sent me a kissy emoji. The guy says I’m gorgeous in all these photos. I don’t think he’s that bent out of shape about how anyone pronounces Kamala.”
The pair appeared during a segment of CNN News Night with Abby Phillip in August during which Dyson attacked Mace for mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris’s name. Despite the heated exchange, the two took photos together, later shared via text.
Mace shared one screenshot of their texts on social media in which Dyson tells Mace, “your gorgeousness makes the photos, so there’s that.”
Dyson responded late Thursday night in a long, convoluted Instagram reel in which he admits to sending the texts but disputes Mace’s characterization of their intent.
“The ridiculous lies told by Nancy Mace in the effort to smear my name because of her anger at being checked for her insensitive disregard for @VP,” he said on X, sharing his Instagram reel. “I had no intent with her to do anything but be nice. And her white women’s tears and mendacity are all in the service of lies and distortions. I was wrong about one thing: she IS a bigot and racist.”
Mace had a field day on social media Thursday, savagely ridiculing Dyson in a series of posts and memes.
The congresswoman posted, “Men flirting 101: Conservative men: would at least buy us a drink first, or maybe pull a chair for us. Leftists: call us racists and then say we have the blood of African American women on our hands.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to make clear that Dyson was a guest on CNN and is not an employee of the network.
