Fareed Zakaria, the American journalist famous as host of CNN Fareed Zakaria GPS came under fire on Tuesday after he said that President Donald Trump’s description of Nigeria as “beautiful” was an overstatement.
Trump had at a press conference with his Nigerian counterpart showered encomiums on Nigeria, describing the West African nation as a place he would love to visit.
“I would like very much to visit Nigeria. It is an amazing country, in certain ways, I hear from the standpoint of the beauty of a country — there’s no country more beautiful.” Trump had said.
Fareed Zakaria
However, Zakaria speaking on CNN after the press briefing disagree with Trump: “I have to confess, people have said many things about Nigeria over the years that I’ve been following international affairs — I don’t think anyone has said that. ”
He added that Trump’s statement was part of the penchant of the US president to exaggerate.
He noted that Trump had similarly described other African countries like South Africa and Botswana: “That was one of those classic Donald Trump — shall we call it — exaggeration.”
But there was an immediate backlash which Zakaria obviously did not expect on social media, forcing him to recant while agreeing that Nigeria has many beautiful places.
His tweet read “Re: My reaction earlier to the President’s comment on Nigeria,” Mr. Zakaria said. “I’ve visited Nigeria several times. Love the country. Agree it has many beautiful places. Most especially, I love the people.”
Re: My reaction earlier to the President’s comment on Nigeria: I’ve visited Nigeria several times. Love the country. Agree it has many beautiful places. Most especially, I love the people.
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) April 30, 2018
Trump’s Statement on Nigeria is Prejudiced, Parochial and Un-presidential – Group
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