Conservative editor-in-chief appears to use racial slur to refer to Haitian migrants

Screenshot by NPR

Rich Lowry, the editor-in-chief of the prominent conservative magazine National Review, appeared to use a racial slur to refer to Haitian migrants during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show.

"Having a hard time coming to any conclusion besides the obvious one about what Lowry catches himself blurting out here," wrote Madeline Peltz, deputy director of rapid response at Media Matters, who posted the clip to X.

Kelly asked Lowry, who has been at the magazine since 1997, about comments made by JD Vance regarding vitriolic and debunked claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating neighborhood pets.

In a CNN interview on Sunday with Dana Bash, Vance, the Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee, said he was willing “to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.”

"He admits they made it up," said Kelly, to which Lowry responded: "Remember 'alternative facts' with Kellyanne [Conway]. They did the same thing."

“They’ve only found two Springfield residents calling to complain about Haitian [slur] — migrants taking geese from ponds,” he added. However, Lowry's initial pronunciation of the word "migrants," which he maintains he simply stumbled over, sounded like the N-word to a large number of social media users.

While Kelly did not visibly react during the interview itself, she later jumped to Lowry's defense on X, writing in response to a clip of the show, "This is so disgusting and obviously leveled by someone that doesn’t know [Rich Lowry] at all."

Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy, who is also a National Review contributing editor, also responded to the controversy, writing on X that Lowry "obviously got crossed up between 'immigrants' (short i) and migrants (long i) -- started mispronouncing 'migrants' with short i; instantly corrected himself with no embarrassment because it was patently a mispronunciation."

Lowry responded on X: "Yep, this is exactly what happened—I began to mispronounce the word 'migrants' and caught myself halfway through".

NPR has reached out the National Review for comment but has yet to hear back.

The debunked, racially charged claims have not only been touted by Vance, but were brought up by former President Donald Trump during last week's presidential debate, who said in response to a question on immigration, "They're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats."