Marco Rubio Honors John Lewis With Photo Of Elijah Cummings
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was roasted on Twitter Saturday after he mistakenly posted a photograph of the late Elijah Cummings in a message meant to honor civil rights icon and veteran Georgia Congressman John Lewis.
Lewis died on Friday at the age of 80 following a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Rubio remembered the Democrat in a tweet, saying it “was an honor to know & be blessed with the opportunity to serve in Congress” with Lewis, who he described as a “genuine & historic American hero.”
Accompanying the tribute was a photograph of Rubio with Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives until his death last October.
Rubio also made the image his Twitter profile picture.
Journalists and others on Twitter were quick to point out the senator’s blunder.
marco rubio's tweet about john lewis - which is now his profile pic - is a photo of elijah cummings. pic.twitter.com/S5N53I2tRI
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 18, 2020
That’s the late Elijah Cummings, Senator @marcorubio pic.twitter.com/2bIvwcCGRd
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 18, 2020
Marco Rubio is honoring John Lewis by making his profile picture a photo of him with Elijah Cummings pic.twitter.com/NKa40nRAEr
— Rob Flaherty (@Rob_Flaherty) July 18, 2020
Marco Rubio’s tribute to John Lewis obliviously features a photo of him and Elijah Cummings. He even made it his avatar. pic.twitter.com/Go0OtgdvRm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 18, 2020
Marco Rubio tweeted a pic of Elijah Cummings in a remembrance post about John Lewis. pic.twitter.com/XlwaGtsinJ
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) July 18, 2020
.@marcorubio is only 49 years old.
I hope that he's reminded of this moment every day for the rest of an incredibly long natural life. https://t.co/P2ly6gwRMK— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) July 18, 2020
marco rubio says that he was honored to know john lewis by tweeting a photo (then making it his avatar!) of him with...elijah cummings
B I G Y I K E S
(h/t @KateNocera ) pic.twitter.com/0sMREZqXGx— David Mack (@davidmackau) July 18, 2020
Looks like @marcorubio deleted the tweet referring to the late Congressman Elijah Cummings as Congressman John Lewis but kept it as his profile pic. pic.twitter.com/CYYhBoDsq6
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) July 18, 2020
Rubio later deleted the tweet and changed his profile picture. He also acknowledged that he “tweeted an incorrect photo” and posted a new image, this time of him and Lewis.
The new image was from a video captured during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Miami that Lewis had attended.
Earlier today I tweeted an incorrect photo
John Lewis was a genuine American hero
I was honored to appear together in Miami 3 years ago at an event captured in video below
My God grant him eternal resthttps://t.co/aEm4MxKxBP pic.twitter.com/0UpWSG3vNQ— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 18, 2020
Rubio was not the only lawmaker to confuse the two congressmen.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) also posted a photograph of Cummings in a Facebook tribute to Lewis on Saturday.
Sullivan later removed the post, but has not publicly acknowledged the mistake.
Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan just did the same thing https://t.co/4Omxeh8np5 pic.twitter.com/ghcDORPwkF
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020
🤬 It happened again.
Republican Senator Dan Sullivan (@DanSullivan_AK) didn’t just confuse the images of John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, he literally describes a whole encounter with Elijah Cummings that he thought was with John Lewis.
It’s disgusting. pic.twitter.com/9uUgTuSPkm— Shaun King (@shaunking) July 19, 2020
Cummings had joked before about being mistaken for Lewis in public.
“I’ve gotten a lot of pictures taken where people just assume that I was John Lewis,” Cummings said in the 2020 documentary “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”
“But you know what,” the congressman quipped, “I am so glad that they mistake me for a great man.”
This piece has been updated to include Sen. Dan Sullivan’s post.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.