Scott: ‘Uncle Tim’ social media responses to GOP speech ‘so disappointing’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said he was upset by how some social media users reacted to his rebuttal speech on behalf of Republicans following President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening. 

“Well, you know, it was upsetting certainly, but it was so disappointing that those people who want to be respected and given the opportunity to live their lives any way they want to, they don’t want the same thing for you and me,” Scott said Thursday morning during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” 

“They have doubled down that they are going to not attack my policies but they are literally attacking the color of my skin. You cannot step out of your lane according to the liberal elite left,” Scott said.

The phrase “Uncle Tim” trended briefly on Twitter Wednesday night following Scott’s speech, in which he said he’s been called an “Uncle Tom” in the past. The derogatory term comes from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

“You know this stuff is wrong. Hear me clearly: America is not a racist country,” Scott said in his speech. “It’s backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present.” 

Uncle Tim Scott has perfected the art of sycophantic bootlicking. He’s a master step n fetch it artist and cunning white supremacy apologist, who demonstrated his buck dancing skills in front of the entire world.

“Hear me clearly, America is not a racist country”

– @TimScottSC pic.twitter.com/C7fgye7tcU

— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) April 29, 2021

While saying this, UNCLE Tim Scott said America is not a racist society. https://t.co/4JSqgiH0Sx

— Mr. Vegas (@MrVegasMusic) April 29, 2021

Tim Scott gets called Uncle Tom by progressives. But he’s an Uncle Tim.

— Young Daddy (@Toure) April 29, 2021

Biden in his own speech cited the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last year and decried systemic racism in American society. He called on Congress to pass comprehensive criminal justice reform. 

“My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systematic racism in our criminal justice system and enact police reform in George Floyd’s name that passed the House already,” Biden said during his address.

Scott, who has led GOP efforts on criminal justice reform and often speaks about his own experiences with racism, accused Democrats of stalling negotiations on any legislative breakthrough regarding police reform. 

“Believe me, I know firsthand our healing is not finished. In 2015, after the shooting of Walter Scott, I wrote a bill to fund body cameras. Last year, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I built an even bigger police reform proposal. But my Democratic colleagues blocked it,” he said, according to the New York Times transcript.

“I extended an olive branch. I offered amendments. But Democrats used the filibuster to block the debate from even happening. My friends across the aisle seemed to want the issue more than they wanted a solution. But I’m still working. I’m hopeful that this will be different.”