An insensitive tweet about a Rolex watch that was damaged in the Lahaina fire is receiving backlash online.
On August 11, as many people were still searching for their loved ones, Kellen Browning, a New York Times reporter, tweeted about a woman finding her Rolex in the wreckage.
“On Friday, Elicia Stratton searched desperately through the wreckage of her Lahaina home for the Rolex watch her parents gave her when she graduated college,” Browning wrote in the tweet.
“Suddenly, her fiancé pulled it from the ashes. ‘You found it!”’ she said, choking up. It was damaged but still legible,” he continued.
Thousands of people on Twitter criticized Browning for reporting on a damaged Rolex while bodies were still being pulled from the wreckage. The death toll has risen to 93 people.
“There are Kānaka Maoli bodies in that wreckage. How dare you post this,” Kaniela Ing, a former Hawaii State Representative, said.
Native Hawaiians have also pointed out that “invaluable cultural treasures” were lost not just luxury goods.
Browning accused critics of attempting to “cherry-pick one tweet to try to craft a misleading narrative” of the New York Times’ coverage. He also claimed that he could “only talk to the people I come across.”
However, several Twitter users pointed out that Browning’s previous tweet, and his first tweet describing a Maui resident’s experience, was about a woman who pulled her diamond earrings from the wreckage.
Others argued that as a journalist, it is Browning’s job to find other people to talk to.
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