Joy Reid casts doubts on Nikki Haley’s ‘black friends’ claim and bursts out laughing

MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid cast some doubt on presidential candidate Nikki Haley‘s claim that she has black friends.

Reid was reporting on Haley’s blunder during another town hall event in New Hampshire in December during the Friday episode of The Reid Out. When asked about what started the Civil War, Haley failed to mention slavery but, later in Iowa, attempted to correct the record. Haley claimed the question came from a “Democrat plant” and was intended to cause a blunder.

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“I should have said slavery right off the bat,” Haley said. “I had black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to, you know, slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War.”

“Why did she deploy the I have ‘black friends’ bit?” Reid said after playing the clip. “Why did she do that?”

Former lieutenant governor of Maryland Michael Steele, a guest on Friday’s segment, sighed and shook his head. This caused both Steele and Reid to laugh.

“I — ugh — I can’t,” Steele said.

“Michael, but when people say: ‘I have black friends,’ don’t you want the next — the follow-up question to be: ‘OK, can you give us their names?'” Reid said.

“No, my follow-up is usually: ‘Then why did you just say the ‘ish’ you said?’” Steele said.

“Maybe your Black friends should check you,” Reid said. “Maybe you shoulda talked to your black friends before you answered the question about the Civil War, Nikki from South Carolina.”

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Reid jokingly suggested she would interview Haley’s black friends, encouraging them to call into the show. She went on to imply that Haley has flip-flopped in her support of the Confederate flag, most recently coming out against it.

Haley is the only female candidate running for the Republican nomination for president. She previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and as the governor of South Carolina.