On Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) went full damage control and launched an investigation into why a recruitment ad showed up on Breitbart.
Noah Shachtman, editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast discovered the ad and posted it on Twitter Friday night:
Latinos make up the majority of the LAPD and were very quick to denounce the ad based on Breitbart’s constant misrepresentation of undocumented immigrants in the US and their general racist and misogynistic content.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore tweeted Saturday that his department would team up with the city’s Personnel Department to determine how the ad, featuring a photo of an officer and the words, “Choose Your Future,” ended up on the website once run by Stephen Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump.
After receiving numerous inquiries into the ad placement, LAPD’s Media Relations Division posted on Twitter as well:
By late Saturday, LAPD figured out Google placed the ad on Breitbart. They will discontinue purchasing any future ads until they can gain “tighter control of ad settings.”
Asked about the LAPD tweets, Breitbart spokeswoman Elizabeth Moore issued a statement saying the company was “one of the most pro-police, pro-law-enforcement news organizations in America.”
“We have been cited by the New York Times Magazine as having one of the most diverse news rooms in the nation, with a history of promoting women and minorities into leadership positions. We also know we have strong readership among the rank-and-file in the LAPD,” the spokeswoman said.
Los Angeles Times:
