LA Times downplays racially charged attack on GOP gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder with misleading tweets

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Larry Elder calls out 'media hypocrisy' in California recall election

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder joins 'America's Newsroom' on his bid to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom and the attack on him by an egg-throwing protestor.

The Los Angeles Times is under fire for a pair of misleading tweets about Republican California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, who had an egg thrown at him by a person in a gorilla mask while walking in Los Angeles on Wednesday. 

First the liberal newspaper tweeted, "Larry Elder cuts short Venice homeless encampment tour after hostile reception," without mentioning that the Black Republican was attacked by a White person in a gorilla mask. 

The Los Angeles Times is under fire for a pair of misleading tweets about Republican California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder.

The L.A. paper is aware that ape characterizations "have been used as a racist trope for centuries," because its mentioned in the accompanying report, but the headline and tweet simply chalked the incident up to a "hostile reception." 

LARRY ELDER ATTACKED BY EGG-THROWING AGITATORS IN LOS ANGELES

The L.A. Times then followed up with another shocking tweet when reporting that the Los Angeles Police Department is now investigating the attack on Elder. 

"LAPD is investigating altercation involving Larry Elder at Venice homeless encampment," the Times tweet alongside a photo of Elder touching the face of a female supporter.  The image makes it appear the "altercation involving" Elder involves him slapping a woman, but the GOP gubernatorial candidate was actually the victim. 

A woman who says she was in the photo with Elder took to Twitter to blast the newspaper in a series of messages.

"Yesterday @larryelder was my guest. We were attacked by a group yelling racial slurs, a white woman in a gorilla mask threw eggs. Yet @latimes finds a deceiving pic of us about to hug to confuse the story- a HATE CRIME was committed against a black man running for Governor of CA," an unverified account titled Soledad Ursua wrote. 

LIBERAL MEDIA LARGELY IGNORE EGG ATTACK ON BLACK CALIF. GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE LARRY ELDER

"Why would you use such a misleading photo that makes it look like @larryelder is slapping me? He was the victim of a hate crime yesterday by a white woman wearing a Gorilla Mask. This is outrageous," Ursua wrote in another tweet. 

"Are you kidding me?" she wrote in another response. 

Woman in LA Times photo of her and Elder responds with tweet

The Venice Neighborhood Council General Board includes a community officer named Soledad Ursua, according to its website. Ursua could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The L.A. Times changed the image after significant backlash. The tweet that once showed an image of Elder appearing to touch a female now features an image of Elder walking away from his attacker. 

The L.A. Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Elder told Fox News in a phone interview that the racist phrases were screamed at him during the attack and if he were a Democrat, the attack would be garnering much more press attention.

"There’s a double standard here. There was an article in the front page of The New York Times the other day, all negative about me, not mentioning the fact that I’m Black, not mentioning that I’d be the first Black governor of California," he said.