UPDATE: MSNBC President Phil Griffin apologized Thursday for the network’s “outrageous and unacceptable” language toward conservatives. In a statement to the Republican National Committee, Griffin said: “We immediately acknowledged that it was offensive and wrong, apologized, and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet.”

An MSNBC tweet this week generated backlash for its assumption that conservatives dislike interracial families. The tweet, which the network since has deleted, was captured in a screen shot:

CheeriosCommercial

The ad in question is the second in a series of Cheerios commercials featuring the interracial family as characters.

When conservative commentator and online activist Michelle Malkin saw the MSNBC tweet, she jumped into action by creating the hashtag #MyRightWingBiracialFamily and then sent a tweet with a photo of her own biracial children. Next came a firestorm of response from other biracial, conservative families on Twitter. Here are a few of the tweets that surfaced:

 

 

This is the fourth time in the past few months that MSNBC drew criticism for its portrayal of conservatives  as racist. Most recently, Melissa Harris-Perry poked fun at former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s family for having an adopted grandchild who is black.