‘This art was an inexcusable mistake.’

The Black CEO of a NYC charity has called out the New York Post for photoshopping his image in a story about a criminal. 

Wes Moore is founder of Robin Hood, an organization that has been “finding, fueling and creating the most impactful and scalable solutions to lift families out of poverty in New York City” for over 30 years. On Friday, December 21, Moore tweeted a photo of the Post’s article about the free-stock trading app RobinHood and its financial scheme targeting millennials. The story was accompanied by photo art of Moore and falsely named him as Chief Executive Officer of the company.

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“Today @nypost photoshopped me to look like a “criminal” in a story that had nothing to do with me,” Moore captioned the post. “They confused @RobinhoodApp & @robinhoodnyc,” he continued. 

“I’m sure retractions are forthcoming, but even if your basic facts had not been wrong, know that trafficking in cheap tropes is harmful,” he added. 

On Saturday, the Post ran a correction and the reporter who wrote the story, Thornton McEnery, issued a public and private apology to Moore on Twitter, Mediaite reports. 

“On Friday, an illustration for a story in the business section about the Robinhood stock-trading app mistakenly used the face of Wes Moore, the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City charity. The Post regrets this error,” the correction stated, which appeared in the business section.

McEnery expressed regret over the error and explained to Moore that he was not aware his image would accompany the story.

“This art was an inexcusable mistake considering that your name appears nowhere in the copy of my story, and I deeply wish I had been able to prevent it from happening. You deserve every apology, and I’m ashamed that my byline is associated with it,” McEnery tweeted.

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Moore also thanked the Post for issuing the correction.

According to the website, Moore’s Robin Hood foundation has partnered “with over 250 nonprofits to support food, housing, education, legal services, workforce development, and more to New Yorkers living in poverty across all five boroughs.”

Most recently, Robin Hood and Morgan Stanley vowed to provide financial assistance to 2,000 street vendors across New York City, per Business Wire. 

“Street Vendors are central to New York’s cultural and economic identity, but COVID-19 has dealt them a serious blow. Over the last year, as the pandemic intensified racial and economic disparities, street vendors have been forced to face the crisis alone, finding themselves ineligible for benefits as a result of their immigration status and the very nature of their work,” said Moore in a statement. “New York City street vendors are at the precipice with no safety net to catch them. We must do all we can to help them fight to weather this pandemic – now and for the long haul.”

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The post NY Post ‘regrets error’ after photoshopping Black CEO on criminal’s body appeared first on TheGrio.