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Terrorism analyst Michael S. Smith II has been fired from his position at the think tank New America after tweeting offensive remarks about Chinese intelligence agencies. 
Smith, who was an international security fellow at the organization, shared a Quartz article on Friday regarding the Chinese government’s acquisition of New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel.
In a tweet rife with Asian stereotypes and typos, Smith impersonated a Chinese accent, switching l’s with r’s. He even made a reference to eye shape, writing, “We know wheh you sreep, rouwound eye. And who you sreepy with!!!” 

While the tweet has since been removed, it provoked an outpouring of criticism from both the Asian community and the national security community on social media. Many called Smith’s comments racist.

Mocking people based on their race is a disgusting, ugly, bigoted move. @NewAmerica needs to take action here. The US rivalry with China has nothing to do w/ ethnic background, but rather, clashing ideologies and competing interests. https://t.co/MLsD0BL2Wa— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) February 23, 2018

It's funny how some white ppl think "round eye" is an insult Asians would use against them. That just proves "racism against white people" can't possibly be a thing. pic.twitter.com/LrKtKPaWUr— Jessica Prois (@JessicaProis) February 23, 2018

You were actually deliberately mocking Chinese people. And yes, it was racist. You can't just delete it and try to misstate what happened. pic.twitter.com/Soj4hS4Sn1— Aislinn 🦒 (@twnty7) February 23, 2018

Smith initially defended his original post, saying he was “poking fun at Chinese ‘intelligence’ agencies,” in another since-deleted tweet.
He also dismissed his critics for making “false claims of racism,” and blamed friends of Mia Bloom, another terror analyst who has been critical of Smith, for the backlash.
Smith doubled down on his racist comments by sharing a screenshot of the Urban Dictionary definition of “Chile Please.” 

Shortly afterward, New America announced it had terminated Smith’s fellowship due to his “use of inappropriate language.”
“New America does not tolerate or condone the use of racist language or racist conduct of any kind,” the group’s statement read.
While Smith finally walked back his earlier comments, he insisted that he is “not a racist.”
“I apologize to everyone who found my comments to be offensive and hurtful. I have removed the tweet in consideration of your concerns,” he wrote.
Many social media users have called that statement insincere. Some people pointed out that Smith hadn’t just mocked intelligence agencies, but Chinese people as a whole, and had failed to address the actual issue. Others accused the analyst of backpedaling only because his actions had professional repercussions.

end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re racist or not. we poc understand that you could have poc as friends and great relationships with them and have made a mistake. but by not acknowledging the mistake directly and addressing it in a way that shows you’ve learned from it...— the fbi agent watching you (@krennical) February 23, 2018

"Earlier, I said something that I knew was racist. When called out, instead of humbly admitting it, I refused to back down and became antagonistically racist. I'm backpeddling now, because I'm becoming more concerned about how this will affect my career."— Craig (@craigmyer) February 23, 2018

You did not mock Chinese intelligence agencies. You mocked Chinese people. You know that, and you're deliberately misstating things to make yourself sound better in retrospect.— J-F C (@JFCormier2) February 23, 2018

FIFY, @MichaelSSmithII: “Earlier, my racist tweet was widely & correctly characterized as racism, which quickly led to my termination at New America. I apologize if you didn’t find my xenophobia as knee slapping funny as I did.” https://t.co/KzueKtFLbV— Dan Kim (@danielmkim) February 23, 2018