Remember the debate between former President Donald Trump and current VP Kamala Harris? Remember when Trump said immigrants were “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” in Springfield, Ohio? Well, that comment understandably got people riled up. One of the more surprising people to put in their two cents about the issue was director Francis Ford Coppola.
The Godfather director wrote that he was so bothered by Trump’s words that he could not “tolerate” them or continue to “remain silent.” Springfield has a large number of Haitian immigrants due to a federal program in partnership with the foreign country.
“I really was infuriated during the debates, when Haitian people were disparaged,” the filmmaker said. “I feel Haitian people are among the most kind, generous, talented, wonderful I have ever known. They have never been forgiven for winning what was a slave-revolt, and have been punished ever since they liberated themselves.” He also posted a still from “a Haitian film that I supported called FREDA.”
The whole “cat eating” thing actually started when an X account called End Wokeness posted about a woman who said her cat ran away and then she saw it “hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat.” The post also said Haitians were also “doing it with the ducks and geese.” The post has almost five million views as of this writing.
Trump’s remarks caused chaos in the small town, with three schools closing due to bomb threats. One of threats involved comments about Haitians, according to the BBC. Springfield Mayor Bob Rue was forced to comment on the issue, in an attempt to quell the unrest.
“People’s pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio. We do not have any evidence that has happened, and I’ve made it known in multiple interviews that this is absolutely not true.” Unsurprisingly, Trump did not back away from the comments, and actually doubled down on them when asked about it at a press conference in Los Angeles.
“I can say this, we will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio – large deportations. We’re going to get these people out. We’re bringing them back to Venezuela,” he said. Why he mentioned Venezuela and not Haiti is anyone’s guess, but that’s to be expected from Trump these days.
President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is a Haitian American, and she weighed in on the controversy as well, saying that the whole situation was “extremely sad and concerning.” Biden said, “This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.” Looks like Coppola isn’t the only one upset about this by a longshot, and he certainly won’t be the only one to speak out.
Published: Sep 15, 2024 08:54 am