Historians may one day point to Jan. 21, 2019, as the day irony as we know it died.

What other reason can explain why unapologetically racist Iowa Congressman Steve King chose to tweet a tribute to the slain civil rights legend Martin Luther King Jr. on the day commemorating his birth.

To make things more ludicrous, King’s tweet of praise included this quote attributed to King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Problem is, King never actually said that, according to Snopes.com.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his all for all. I have long agreed with his speeches and writings. Today I think of this MLK quote, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” May we renew ourselves in his teachings so that he can RIP. — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) January 21, 2019

The tweet came less than two weeks after the Republican congressman wondered aloud to The New York Times why being a white supremacist is such a bad thing.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” he said. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

King’s tweet garnered a lot of reaction from Twitter users, many of whom had questions.

So what’s up with the Confederate flag you kept on your desk? — Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) January 21, 2019

Is this a parody account because last I checked you were completely ignoring MLK’s *speeches and writings* and didn’t seem to give a flip about him resting in peace. pic.twitter.com/0HtR2WWsZx — Monica DeLaCruz (@memoriesbyheart) January 21, 2019

Others offered some helpful advice:

Might be best to sit this one out, chief. pic.twitter.com/uX5ffXYNrS — EJ Gibney (@EJGibney) January 21, 2019

Get his name out of your mouth you old racist sack of garbage. — Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 21, 2019

One person attempted to call out King for praising the civil rights leader with a quote he didn’t say.

If this were really true, you would have quoted something Martin Luther King, Jr, actually said, and not a fake quote that just so happens to be 14 words long. — Liz Loveland (@lizl_genealogy) January 21, 2019

Others saw what Steve King was really doing:

Obviously this is an example of Steve separating the art from the artist.



"I hate black people, but I do enjoy their words." — Stephen with a ph (@SKHORROCKS) January 21, 2019