NBC News raised eyebrows on Tuesday for a report suggesting the Tennessee transgender community was under threat following the mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville.
Three children, all 9 years old, and three adult staffers at The Covenant School were murdered Monday by a 28-year-old trans male who was a former student. Police shot and killed the shooter at the scene.
NBC's "Out News" division, however, appeared to frame the perpetrator as among the victims, running the headline "Fear pervades Tennessee's trans community amid focus on Nashville shooter's gender identity."
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The report quoted members of the local LGBTQ community. Transgender drag performer Denise Sadler told NBC News she had hired "four armed guards" to secure the gay bar she'll be hosting an event at next weekend but after the shooting, she's "planning to hire eight."
"You don’t know if [the shooter’s gender identity] is going to trigger a community of people who already hated us to come and try to shoot us to prove a point," Sadler said.
One trans activist predicted, "More blood’s going to be shed, and it’s not going to be shed in a school."
Tri-Cities Transgender acting president Aislinn Bailey condemned the police for speculating about the shooter's gender identity without first verifying, telling NBC News, "I knew that as soon as anyone mentioned that, it was immediately going to become the center focus instead of what should be the focus, and that’s gun violence in this country… We were already fearing for our lives. Now, it’s even worse."
Critics pummeled NBC News' report on social media.
"You gotta be kidding," RealClearPolitics co-founder Tom Bevan reacted.
"Considering a trans terrorist purposefully targeted a Christian elementary school and murdered six innocents, seems like the Christians would have more cause for concern," radio host Dana Loesch tweeted.
"Tweet would be identical if the killer had been the victim. Whatever the impetus, the response is exactly the same. Quite the trick," National Review writer Charles C.W. Cooke pointed out.
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"After a trans activist murders Christian children and their caregivers in cold blood, NBC writes up as if the situation were reversed. However much you loathe the corporate press, it is not enough," Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway tweeted.
"Has NBC News done any reporting on how children who attend Christian schools are feeling?" Ruthless podcast co-host Comfortably Smug asked.
"Eye on the ball, guys. Let us not lose sight of the real victims of things people imagine could happen in the future in our misguided attention to the actual victims of a thing that happened yesterday," conservative podcast host Mary Katharine Ham wrote.
Even some GOP lawmakers took swipes at the liberal network.
"It didn’t take you long to twist that," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tn., told NBC News.
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"Those fearing for their lives are the people who have been targeted for hate crimes - the children and teachers of the Christian school," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted.
"Typical left wing garbage. Six Christians, including three children, were violently murdered. The trans community is ~not~ the victim here," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., wrote.
NBC News did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.
