$300 are up for grabs for simply asking President Trump to comment on the US-Wakanda relations on the record.
Amid accusations of racism following reports that Trump had referred to African nations as “shithole countries,” one writer and comedian wants to get Trump on the record about Wakanda the fictional nation of Marvel’s Black Panther.
Trump faces growing condemnation following a closed-door meeting with lawmakers about immigration, in which the president allegedly expressed frustration about people from Haiti, El Salvador and countries in Africa coming to the United States. Trump denied using the vulgar term on Friday, only for his assertions to be undercut by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. On Sunday, even as U.S. diplomats were summoned by foreign governments to explain the comments, Trump reiterated, “I am not a racist.”
As the story went viral, Sara Benincasa a writer and stand-up comedian went ahead to offer a $300 reward to any journalist “who very seriously asks Trump his opinion on US relations with Wakanda and gets the question and answer recorded live on video.” While Benincasa conceded that the reward does not seem as a lot of money, she added, “I also know what most reporters make so … $300.”
Wakanda the homeland of T’Challa, better known as the superhero Black Panther, was introduced in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four #52, is a very wealthy and technologically advanced nation that’s managed to keep its treasures largely secret from the rest of the world thanks in large part to generous deposits of the fictional alloy vibranium.
Although shown on a map in 2010’s Iron Man 2 and mentioned in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wakanda wasn’t formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe until 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, which featured the debut of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. At the end of the film, the Wakandan king offers asylum to Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, which a fan suggested could be material for a follow-up question to the president.
Wakanda will take center stage in director Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, which opens Feb. 16, and then in Avengers: Infinity War, which arrives May 4. The offer of the reward arrived just two days after Trump apparently misspoke when he announced delivery to Norway of F-52 fighter jets, which only exist in the video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
