Rich Lowry, editor-in-chief of the National Review, is being sharply criticized online for apparently using a racial slur when discussing anti-Haitian rhetoric propagated by Republicans, according to which migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating domesticated animals.

The moment occurred on the Megyn Kelly Show after the host defended JD Vance for admitting to CNN’s Dana Bash that he made up the story about the Haitians in Ohio to get attention.

“Remember the alternative facts on Kellyanne? They did the same thing. She didn’t say you make up fiction and pretend it’s fact. You bring other facts into the debate that are ignored,” Lowry said, also finding a reason for Vance’s racist tactics. “That’s what (Vance) said. I believe it was in the interview where Dana Bash says, ‘The police went through 11 months of call records and found only two Springfield residents who called to complain about Haitians…'”

At that moment, it sounded like Lowry used the racial slur “N—r.”

He then corrected himself with “migrants” and continued his train of thought.

“Just two calls, and I think one lesson from this whole story is: People don’t care about geese. People really hate geese. All in all, I think people would prefer if Haitian migrants came and took the geese off the golf course,” Lowry said.

“Yes, that’s exactly what happened – I started mispronouncing the word ‘migrants’ and caught myself halfway through,” he later explained about himself on X (formerly Twitter).

It didn’t take long for social media to start talking about whether they heard an “n” or an “m” after the statement in question.

“Wow. Rich Lowry called Haitian immigrants the ‘N-word’ 42 seconds into this while defending Trump and Vance making up the story about Springfield, Ohio,” one X user wrote over a video clip of the incident. “Hear it for yourself – it’s hard to hear it any other way. Unbelievable.”

One person even slowed down the clip to provide a better overview.

“I took the clip of National Review editor-in-chief Rich Lowry from ‘The Megyn Kelly Show’ and slowed it down to 30% in Premiere Pro without changing the pitch,” wrote another X user. “Lowry was talking about Haitian migrants. The subtitles were generated by an AI. It sounds like he said the N-word.”

Although there is no evidence that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating pets, and even though local officials have come forward to refute the reports, many Republicans continue to spread the false narrative anyway.

“In response to recent rumors that there may be criminal activity among the immigrant population in our city, we want to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific allegations that pets belonging to individuals in the immigrant community have been harmed, injured or mistreated,” a Springfield police spokesperson said last week.

The rumors about Haitian migrants emerged after a 27-year-old non-Haitian black woman named Allexis Telia Ferrell was arrested in Canton, Ohio, after police said she may have murdered a cat in a “residential area in front of several people,” USA Today reported. Canton is about 170 miles northeast of Springfield. Ferrell lives in Ohio.

See more reactions to Lowry’s viral video below:

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