Bo French recasts the dispute as a complaint about DEI admissions
Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission in a radio interview
“We’ve talked about this in terms of DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion]. Well, that’s what DEI was. DEI was discriminating against deserving people, so that these liberal bureaucrat administrators at University of Texas and places like that could select their preferred groups of people. Well, that is what is racism.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
KUT report of French's Monday, September 14 appearance on The Mark Davis Show. The broadcast audio itself was not located.
Before the quotation
French was asked about the post on The Mark Davis Show on the Monday morning after it was published. He had already stood by it publicly.
After the quotation
Politico separately reported that in a radio appearance that day French said he had no personal animosity toward the students and that it is not racist to favour Texans over foreigners. The bracketed expansion of DEI is KUT's, not an editorial insertion.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Was Bo French’s UT Austin post racist?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
The conduct under scrutiny is French's own post. He defends it here by reframing it as a criticism of admissions policy and turning the charge of racism back on university administrators.
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Was Bo French’s UT Austin post racist?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“We all make mistakes but what does he do? No takedown of offensive post, no apology. Just doubles down and raises $ using it. The Republican Party is better than this. We should all condemn this bigotry directed at our fellow Texans or we will soon find ourselves a minority party.”Read statement
“Look, it was an idiotic tweet that he sent. I wish he hadn't sent it. And I got to say, I am celebrating every student at UT, and I was proud to be there in Austin, and it was a hell of a win. Hook 'em horns.”Read statement
“I don’t really know the guy. I heard he said some not so pleasant things. … I am concerned about the number of people living in this country, and we don’t even know who they really are. Shut the border down for 10 years, and then let’s try to figure out who we got in this country because we don’t even know.”Read statement