After the Federal Bureau of Investigation made a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, the agency immediately received backlash online.
In a post on X, also known as Twitter, the FBI acknowledged King’s achievements on his annual federal holiday.
“This #MLKDay, the #FBI honors one of the most prominent leaders of the Civil Rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King’s legacy of fairness and equal justice for all,” the post said.
A community note pinned to the post cited several news outlets that pointed out how the FBI under former Director J. Edgar Hoover closely monitored King in the 1960s: “The FBI engaged in surveillance of King, attempted to discredit him, and used manipulation tactics to influence him to stop organizing. King’s family believed the FBI was responsible for his death.”
The 2020 documentary “MLK/FBI,” directed by Sam Pollard, details that surveillance, which was uncovered decades earlier in the 1970s. The film delves into how officials used their resources, such as wiretaps, to spy on King and his close circle in an attempt to tarnish his reputation.
During an interview with NPR in 2021, Pollard explained the lengths the FBI would go to capture surveillance of the civil rights icon, calling it an “all-out assault.”
“They would go into these hotels before King and his associates got there, and they would be let in by the management to bug those rooms and to have the rooms next door, nearby, where they could listen in to what was going on when King and his associates took those rooms,” Pollard said.
Many people online questioned the FBI’s initial post and championed the community note. One user dubbed it as “one of the TOP 5 worst tweets of all time” and “beyond tone death.”
Another person said, “Honestly, a statement acknowledging and apologizing for the wiretapping and harassment MLK endured would have been a better PR tweet than this.”
The agency responded to the criticism in a statement to the HuffPost amid the wave of responses on the social media platform.
“The FBI has long acknowledged the abuses of power that took place under Director J. Edgar Hoover and the deplorable actions taken against Dr. King and others involved in the civil rights movement,” the statement said. “Today, the FBI honors Dr. King’s life and legacy and uses those lessons from our past to reaffirm our commitment to equal justice, fairness, and diversity.”
Still, their message was a little too late for some users, with one person adding, “That should’ve been in their original tweet.”
According to the AP, King’s audio tapes taken by the FBI are expected to be released in January 2027. The files are sealed at The National Archives and Records Administration.
