Culture writer for MTV News Ira Madison III attacked Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions and his Asian-American granddaughter as a “prop” to distract from his “racism.”

“Sessions, sir, kindly return this Asian baby to the Toys “R” Us you stole her from,” Madison tweeted.

After receiving a deluge of criticism, Madison deleted his initial tweet.

Madison was not alone; though he received the biggest backlash for his joke, a number of left-wing pundits and authors made similar cracks — presumably to demonstrate how anti-racist they are.