Barbara Ehrenreich slammed for racist Marie Kondo tweet

An online takedown of Marie Kondo by author-journalist Barbara Ehrenreich has been widely condemned as racist and xenophobic. Ehrenreich says it was a joke gone wrong.

Ehrenreich tweeted Monday that she saw Kondo’s popularity as a sign of America’s decline and wished that the Japanese “de-cluttering guru” would “learn to speak English.”

She later tweeted that she was “sorry” if she had offended anyone and called her previous comment a missed attempt at “subtle humour.”

Ehrenreich is a prominent liberal who writes often about the working class, notably in the best-selling ‘Nickel and Dimed’.

Prize-winning novelist Rebecca Makkai was among those calling Ehrenreich’s first tweet racist.