It is a striking cover image — a group of stylish, affluent young conservatives gathered to celebrate Donald Trump’s return to power. The New York Magazine article it accompanies, titled “The Cruel Kids’ Table,” leans heavily on the idea that “almost everyone” at the event was white, and the cropped photo appears to back up that claim.
Race is highlighted again when “an older woman in an updo and a silver sequined gown” approaches reporter Brock Colyar and remarks: “‘Have you noticed the entire room is white?’” Colyar adds, “It wasn’t entirely clear whether she thought that was a good thing or a bad thing.”
But the full version of the photo — printed inside the magazine next to the article — reveals that at least three Black guests were cut out of the frame, including the host himself, CJ Pearson, who serves as co-chair of the GOP Youth Advisory Council.
“This is insane,” Pearson said. “I hosted this event and @NYMag intentionally left me out of their story because it would have undermined their narrative that MAGA is some racist cult. They also didn’t include the fact that @WakaFlocka and @Gervontaa were also there.”
“You don’t hate the liberal media enough,” he concluded.
Colyar’s piece centers on “the cultural ascendancy of the New Young Right … the gleeful, confident and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on the rest of America.”
The conservative response has been intense, prompting Colyar to lock their X account. Neither Colyar nor New York Magazine has publicly addressed the criticism.
.@NYMag accused me of hosting a white-only inauguration rager.
— CJ Pearson (@Cjpearson) January 28, 2025
I guess none of these black people got the memo? @XAVIAERD @VernonForGA @WakaFlocka pic.twitter.com/kSRwKbHuAv
For conservatives, the storyline is familiar. Since 1964 — when Barry Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act as part of his anti-government platform and the GOP lost much of the remaining Black support it had held since the 1930s — Republicans have been cast as the party of white voters. Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy,” appealing to racist anxieties among Southern whites, helped the GOP dominate the region but further isolated Black voters. Later administrations, including Ronald Reagan’s push to dramatically scale back welfare programs, helped secure minority loyalty to the Democratic Party.
Yet in 2024, Trump made notable gains with Black voters. Running against Kamala Harris, a Black Democrat, he still managed to capture around 20 percent of the Black vote — up from 13 percent against Joe Biden in 2020. In 2016, he had only reached 8 percent.
His strongest numbers came from young Black men, with roughly 3 in 10 under age 45 voting for him — nearly double what he earned four years earlier.
And an AtlasIntel poll conducted Jan. 21–23 found that 69 percent of Black voters approved of Trump’s job performance, compared to 50 percent of white voters.
Whether critics like it or not, the claim repeated in Colyar’s article that MAGA is a “racist tribe” hostile to minorities is failing to connect with a growing share of Black voters, especially younger ones.
Thank you my African-American brother.
— CJ Pearson (@Cjpearson) January 28, 2025
“I was at this party as were MANY other Conservative media influencers who are Black, Latino, Asian, etc,” wrote Rob Smith, a Black influencer with TurningPoint USA. “NYMag used a whites only photo to push the media narrative that diverse Republicans don’t exist and weren’t welcome. You don’t hate the media enough.”
Pearson shared several photos featuring Black attendees at the event, along with this remark:
“Trying to figure out how I’m going to explain to @w_terrence, @VernonForGA, @Xaviaer, and all of these other black folks that, according to NY Mag, we’re all apparently white now.”
