COMMENTATOR SEDER FIRED, REHIRED, BY MSNBC

MSNBC has reversed a decision made earlier in the week to fire left-wing commentator Sam Seder, whom it dismissed over an eight-year-old tweet the pundit said was a joke.

Far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich whipped up outrage over Seder’s tweet from 2009 about controversial film director Roman Polanski, saying it showed insensitivity about rape. Seder said the tweet was a satirical comment about liberals defending Polanski over his conviction in 1978 for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. “Don’t care re Polanski,” he wrote, “but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene.”

But after Seder’s firing stirred up a liberal backlash, MSNBC reconsidered.