Tyler Cherry, a newly appointed White House communications official, has apologized for his past tweets, including a post that compared police to “slave patrols.” The controversy erupted shortly after Cherry’s promotion from his previous role as Communications Director at the Interior Department.
Screenshots of tweets dating back to 2014 and 2015 began circulating online, revealing strong criticisms of law enforcement, calls for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and statements supporting anti-Israel organizations. One tweet from 2015 allegedly wrote, “Praying for #Baltimore, but praying even harder for an end to a capitalistic police state motivated by explicit and implicit racial biases.”
Another tweet from the same period reportedly stated, “Time to recall that the modern day police system is a direct evolution of slave patrols and lynching mobs.” Cherry’s past tweets also included criticisms of President Joe Biden and his administration’s policies.
The authenticity of the screenshots could not be independently verified, as Cherry deleted his tweets from before April 2022. However, Cherry himself seemed to confirm their legitimacy, stating that his past social media posts from when he was younger do not reflect his current views.
Cherry has committed to supporting the administration’s agenda and will continue his work focused on climate and environmental policies.
Writer Nate Hochman later alleged that Cherry deleted all the tweets with the word “white” in it just hours after he had searched his feed.
