Malaysian broadcaster TV3 sorry for calling Kamala Harris ‘child of illegal immigrant’

TV3 newsreader Nur Jamalina in today’s news segment. Photo: TV3
TV3 newsreader Nur Jamalina in today’s news segment. Photo: TV3

Malaysia’s TV3 has apologized for calling US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the “child of an illegal immigrant” during yesterday’s news broadcast.

Buletin 130 newscaster Nur Jamalina Mohamad Jamali apologized today on behalf of the TV station for the erroneous broadcast that went on air yesterday afternoon.

“In regards to our report at 1.30pm yesterday, we would like to apologise for making the error regarding new US Vice President Kamala Harris,” Nur said.

“She is, in fact, the daughter of an immigrant couple from Jamaica and India and not as we reported. We regret this error we made regarding her background,” she added.

During the broadcast, the news segment said that Harris was a “child of an illegal immigrant” and also made multiple references to her skin colour.

“Harris made history when she became the first dark-skinned, South Asian individual to hold the second-highest position in the US government office,” newsreader Ezreena Amir Hamzah could be heard as saying. “The child of a Jamaican and illegal immigrant from India broke American stereotypes when she became the first female, dark-skinned lawyer in California.”

Harris became the first US Vice President-elect on Saturday, when she won with 290 votes in the Electoral College, together with President-elect Joe Biden. She is the first Black and Asian-American woman to be elected to take on the role in the country. 

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