Source: Emma McIntyre; Columbia University / Getty Images/Columbia University
The head of Columbia University’s psychiatry department put his foot in his mouth and now he has been suspended. Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, who is one of the top psychiatrists in the nation, got Twitter in a frenzy after re-sharing a post about model Nyakim Gatwech and posting “Whether a work of art or a freak of nature, she’s a beautiful sight to behold.” To make matters worse, Dr. Lieberman was retweeting a post that said that Gatwech, who is of South Sudanese descent, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the darkest skin on earth, which isn’t true.
After being suspended, he sent an apology to his colleagues via email saying he was “deeply ashamed” about what he said.
“An apology from me to the Black community, to women, and to all of you is not enough,” Lieberman wrote in the email according to The New York Times. “I’ve hurt many, and I am beginning to understand the work ahead to make needed personal changes and over time to regain your trust.”
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Besides being suspended he has also lost other high-ranking positions. Lieberman has been booted from his psychiatrist-in-chief position at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. On Feb. 22, 2022, he resigned from his executive director position at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
“Coming from somebody with so much power, that was so disappointing. I was like, this is straight up racism,” Gatwech told NBC New York.
She also clarified the false Guinness claims in a lengthy Instagram post where she said she and Guinness World Records have tried to get rid of this fake record.
“I have no idea where it originated, but my manager first brought it to my attention in 2020 and although we’ve denied it to multiple fact-checkers, clearly it’s still floating around even after @guinnessworldrecords stated that it does NOT monitor skin tones,” Gatwech wrote under a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet. “I can’t imagine it’s even possible to know who’s the lightest or darkest person on the planet.”
Lieberman has since deleted his Twitter account.
