MSNBC host Joy Reid suggested on Monday that the reason that people care about the disappearance of 22-year-old Gabby Petito is because they are suffering from “missing white woman syndrome.”
“If you’ve been watching the news for the past few days or on Twitter or Tik Tok, you’re probably familiar with the name Gabby Petito,” she began. “The 22 year old aspiring social media influencer, who was reported missing after her fiancé returned from their van life excursion without her.”
“Now it goes without saying that no family should ever have to endure that kind of pain, and the Petito family certainly deserve answers and justice. But the way this story has captivated the nation has many wondering, why not the same media attention when people of color go missing?” Reid asked. “Well, the answer actually has a name, ‘missing white woman syndrome,’ the term coined by the late and great Gwen Eiffel, to describe the media and public fascination with missing white women like Lacey Peterson or Natalie Holloway, while ignoring cases involving missing people of color.”
WATCH:
MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid: Media reporting Gabby Petito’s disappearance/presumed murder is symptom of "Missing White Woman Syndrome." pic.twitter.com/UYAWgaDyYr
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 21, 2021
