Amy Robach apologized Monday for using the phrase "colored people" on the air Monday after the "Good Morning America" co-host received backlash.
Robach's comment came during a segment discussing the rumored role of former Disney star Zendaya as Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming movie "Spider-Man: Homecoming," said Entertainment Weekly.
"We all know Hollywood has received recent and quite a bit of criticism for casting white actors in what one might assume should be a role reserved for colored people," said Robach.
That stirred up social media.
Robach, who was subbing for Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America," said she meant to say "people of color," and that her use of "colored people" was "not at all a reflection of how I feel or speak in my everyday life," according to The Associated Press.
John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia, wrote for CNN that the term "colored people" was once embraced by blacks and cannot be put in the same category as slurs like the N-word.
"They are no longer what black people prefer to be called, but only the N-word was always used as an epithet, being a direct charge that a black person is inferior," said McWhorter, who has authored books on race relations.
"That isn't true of colored or Negro, as is clear from the simple fact that both terms are proudly preserved in the names of bodies such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United Negro College Fund," he noted.
Some came to Robach's defense on social media as well.
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