This archive report was first published on 27 August 2019.
On August 25, 2019, American journalist Darlene Superville, a White House Reporter for the Associated Press, posted a picture of world leaders on Twitter, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
However, in her initial post, Superville referred to Ramaphosa as an 'identified leader', sparking outrage from mainly African Twitter users who felt she should have recognized the South African President.
Clive Simpkins, a Twitter user, condemned Superville's actions, saying, 'It's deeply offensive to all South Africans that you don't know who our President is. Given your job function, inexcusable. You owe an apology for your sloppiness.'
Another Twitter user, Madzendga, added, 'Dear Darlene, the one unidentified leader is the President of the Republic of South Africa, a country located in your ancestral continent called Africa. This is where all of you Africans Americans come from.'
Prominent Kenyan lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi wrote, 'You should be fired for gross incompetence.'
Superville later corrected her mistake by posting another picture of the same group, this time correctly identifying Ramaphosa.
