Miami newspaper runs anti-Biden ad with the N-word

A profane, pro-Trump political ad in the Miami New Times features several uncensored uses of the N-word and displays a misleading quote from President Biden using the slur in 1985.

Why it matters: The full-page "advertorial" does not disclose who bought it, but directs readers to a conspiracy-laden website affiliated with Blacks for Trump, a local fringe political group whose signs often appear prominently at Donald Trump rallies.

• The ad ran on the back cover of the New Times June 13–19 print edition. Copies of the issue remained available in news boxes as of Wednesday.

What they're saying: Miami New Times publisher Adam Simon tells Axios the ad is unacceptable and he's changing the alt weekly's ad review process.

• Normally, he said, staffers — including himself — review ads prior to publication. But in this case, the ad came in past their deadline and Simon did not review it.
• The New Times will no longer take ads so late that they can't be reviewed, he said.
• "Naturally, had I seen it, which I should have, I would not have let it run as is."

Context: The Biden claim refers to a 1985 Senate hearing in which then-Sen. Biden, while questioning a nominee for federal office, quoted racist remarks made by a state legislator.

• Ahead of the 2020 election, social media users shared edited clips of the hearing to claim Biden used the N-word, omitting the context of his comments.
• Biden was reading verbatim from a memo highlighting racist language used by lawmakers to support a redistricting plan in Louisiana, per the Associated Press.

The other side: Maurice Symonette, the Miami activist who founded Blacks for Trump, told Axios he stood by the ad's claims.

• "I've heard a lot of white men quoting people but when they get to that word, every decent white person says 'the N-word,'" he said.

Zoom in: The ad also features Trump's and Symonette's mugshots side by side.

• Symonette, who used to go by Maurice Woodside, once belonged to the black supremacist Nation of Yahweh cult, which was accused of plotting 14 murders, according to the Miami Herald.
• Symonette, who also goes by " Michael the Black Man ," was charged with conspiracy to commit two murders , but was later acquitted, the Herald reported.

"The bottom line is that it was gross and unacceptable oversight by our local leadership and I take 100% responsibility for allowing that language to run in an ad," Simon told Axios.