The Twitter account of Dictionary.com — known for trolling media outlets, President Donald Trump, and more — took aim at NBC News this week over its tweet about Papa John’s founder John Schnatter’s resignation.
Schnatter resigned as chairman on Thursday after it was revealed that he used the N-word during a call with the marketing agency Laundry Service. The company, which used Schnatter — “Papa John” — in commercials, and whose face appears on the company’s branding, also plans to remove him from those ads. (Schnatter stepped down as CEO earlier this year after blaming the NFL national anthem protests for poor NFL sales.)
On Thursday, Dictionary.com took issue with NBC News’s tweet, which characterized Schnatter’s use of the N-word as a “racial remark.”
Racial is an adjective meaning of or relating to the social construct of race.
Racist is an adjective describing a belief that one's own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.
Use of the n-word is the latter. https://t.co/gqlccrMMpY
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) July 12, 2018
Fortune contacted NBC News for comment about Dictionary.com’s tweet and will update this article if we hear back.
Dictionary.com and (fellow dictionary) Merriam-Webster’s twitter accounts have been known for their quippy remarks on social media. Earlier this week, Dictionary.com called out Forbes for using the phrase “self-made” to describe Kylie Jenner, who the outlet says built a $900 million fortune with her cosmetics brand. Some on social media have pointed out that Jenner comes from a wealthy family.
Self-made means having succeeded in life unaided.
Used in a sentence: Forbes says that Kylie Jenner is a self-made woman. https://t.co/sr8Ncd7s5A https://t.co/ehEL7Cf6KV
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) July 11, 2018