Indian-American author and political commentator Dinesh D’Souza has been in the eye of a raging controversy yet again following his tweets mocking student survivors of the Florida high school shooting.
Mr. Souza tweeted a mocking message in response to an image of students reacting to news that Florida legislature had voted down the possibility of banning assault weapons in the State.
“Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs,” he tweeted.
Before that tweet, Mr. Souza had also written: “Adults 1, Kids 0,” in the wake of the vote.
He also appeared to accuse the survivors of "politically-orchestrated grief" as they mourned the deaths of their classmates and teachers. He said their grief “strikes me as phony & inauthentic.”
His tweets were met with widespread criticism. The Conservative Political Action Conference, where Mr. Souza spoke in the past said, “his comments are indefensible.”
He faced many harsh comments from regular Twitter users who said he “has no humanity.”
He subsequently apologised for his comments and said he was being “insensitive to students who lost friends in a terrible tragedy.”
Born in Mumbai, Mr. Souza, 55, is a former policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan, and has been affiliated with conservative organizations such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
He also directed a 2012 film critical of former President Barack Obama, 2016: Obama’s America and has written books including The End of Racism, Life After Death: The Evidence and Obama’s America: Unmaking the American Dream.
In 2014, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for arranging excessive campaign contributions to a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
(With inputs from Reuters)
