A clip of liberal comedian Chelsea Handler saying that 50 Cent ‘cannot vote’ for former President Donald Trump during 2020 because he is Black sparked a snarky response from Sen. Tim Scott this week.
Sen. Scott, R-S.C, hit back at Handler in a social media post on Friday, saying, ‘tell another Black man how to think.’
‘Yes, by all means, please tell another Black man how to think, White lady,’ Scott wrote.
The comedian made the comments about the rapper, 50 Cent, who she briefly dated in 2011, during a remote interview with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show in 2020.
‘And I had to remind him that he was a Black person, so he can’t vote for Donald Trump,’ she told Fallon.
The comedian argued that the rapper had a responsibility to not influence people to vote for Trump in 2020.
‘He shouldn’t be influencing an entire swathe of people who may listen to him, because he’s worried about his own personal pocketbook,’ she said.
Scott previously pushed against the narrative that Black people should vote for Democrats, recently calling out ‘The View’ after they mocked him for his leadership in bringing Black voters over to the Republican Party.
‘Women of ‘The View’: My goodness gracious. Let me just be plain and simple. Without the Black vote, there is no Democratic Party,’ Scott told ‘Hannity.’ ‘And since I was elected in 2010 to Congress, before that, no Black Republicans [in Congress]. But since then, there’s been seven.’
Scott said, ‘President Trump’s policies have led to a surge’ of Black Republican political candidates taking office at the ‘city level, to the county level, to the state level, and in Congress.’
‘We’re seeing Black city council members, we’re seeing Black assembly members all across this nation,’ he said. ‘There is a wave of Black elected officials who happen to be Republicans. But the Black vote is following.’
‘The View’ co-host Sunny Hostin had said Friday that Scott was not making a strong case for Black conservatives. Scott got under Hostin’s skin last year when he rejected her beliefs on the show about systemic racism.
‘Just to speak for African-American voters,’ Hostin said. ‘If anyone thinks that Tim Scott is going to bring over a bunch of Black men, they need to just get with it, because Tim Scott is the only African-American senator in the Republican Party for a reason.’
Scott is one of several candidates that former President Trump is reportedly considering as his running mate in the 2024 election.
Scott ran for the Republican nomination but dropped out before the Iowa caucuses and went on to endorse Trump.
Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.