Skip to the story
All stories

Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel it

The Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate now says it is her favourite holiday, after earlier posts criticised its colonial ties

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Wisconsin Socialist Francesca Hong Backtracks on Thanksgiving

What this story says

  • Francesca Hong posted on X in November 2021 calling for Thanksgiving to be cancelled over its colonial ties.
  • In a 7 August 2026 Politico podcast, Hong said Thanksgiving was her "favourite holiday" and she did not want to cancel it.
  • During a 5 August 2026 CNN interview, Hong gave a 46-second answer when asked if she still believed Thanksgiving should be cancelled and did not say "yes" or "no".
  • None of the left-rated outlets tracked by MediaBias News carried the story.

Who covered it

Left 21%(8)Centre 24%(9)Right 55%(21)

Percentages are shares of the 38 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 41 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

68/100

Craft

87/100

Hype

48/100

41 sources · methodology

Francesca Hong, a Democratic state representative and gubernatorial candidate in Wisconsin, has revised her position on Thanksgiving after a 2021 social media post calling for its cancellation. In a November 2021 post on X, Hong urged people to "cancel Thanksgiving" and described it as "celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women". The post was later deleted.

On 7 August 2026, Hong told Politico’s Playbook podcast that Thanksgiving was her "favourite holiday" and that she did not want to cancel it. She said it was a "big event" for her family but added that she was "kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to holidays in general". Hong has also criticised other US holidays on social media, including Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, Christmas, Halloween, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

During a 5 August 2026 interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Hong was asked whether she still believed Thanksgiving should be cancelled. She responded with a 46-second answer that did not include a direct "yes" or "no". Hong said she had prepared Thanksgiving meals for her community as a chef and believed in bringing people together, but acknowledged that the holiday was "incredibly painful for many people".

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mentioned Hong’s explanation that her 2021 post was made during the Covid-19 pandemic. None of the right-rated reports carried her statement that views "can evolve". No left-rated outlet ran the story at all.

Coverage settled. We checked this 8 times and stopped on 11 Aug 2026, 17:31. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

8 rated outlets

  • The left-rated outlets led on Francesca Hong’s 2021 social-media post calling for Thanksgiving to be cancelled and her refusal to disavow it in a 29 July 2026 CNN interview. All seven digests reported that Hong did not back down from the idea.
  • Five of the seven digests noted Hong’s claim that Thanksgiving is “incredibly painful” for many Americans. Four mentioned her status as a democratic socialist and her candidacy for Wisconsin governor. None of the digests quoted Hong’s full 46-second response to CNN’s question.
  • The digests did not include reactions from Native American groups or historical context about the holiday. Hong’s restaurant experience and primary opponents were mentioned in two digests each.

Centre

9 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated report from Internewscast led on Hong’s reversal of her 2021 position, quoting her statement that Thanksgiving was her "favourite holiday". It carried her explanation that the holiday was a major gathering for her family and noted her broader pattern of criticising US holidays on social media. The report included her 46-second non-answer to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and described it as drawing attention online.

Right

21 rated outlets

  • All six right-rated reports led on Hong’s backtracking from her 2021 call to cancel Thanksgiving. The New York Post and The National Pulse described her earlier post as a "rant" and "attack", respectively, and the Post called her recent statement a "bizarre backtrack". The Post and democraticaccent.com quoted her saying Thanksgiving was her "favourite holiday", while Twitchy framed her reversal as driven by polling concerns.
  • The New York Post’s full report included Hong’s 46-second non-answer to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, describing it as a "word salad". It also noted that Senator Bernie Sanders had declined to endorse Hong’s gubernatorial campaign, quoting Sanders saying he was not familiar with her race. The Post and ussanews.com both highlighted that Hong did not directly answer whether she still believed Thanksgiving should be cancelled.
  • The National Pulse’s digest mentioned Hong’s criticism of other holidays, including Christmas and Independence Day. The Post and democraticaccent.com both noted that Hong had called herself a "curmudgeon" about holidays in general.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel…?
Of the 38 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 21% are rated left, 24% are rated centre, 55% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 41. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 38 rated outlets on this story, 21% are rated left, 24% are rated centre, 55% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel… biased?
Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel it is one event reported by 41 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which outlets covered Francesca Hong revises stance on Thanksgiving after 2021 call to cancel…?
41 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Francesca Hong say about Thanksgiving in 2021?
In November 2021, Francesca Hong posted on X urging people to "cancel Thanksgiving" because of its colonial ties. She described it as "celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women". The post was later deleted, as reported by Internewscast and the New York Post.
Did Francesca Hong say she still wants to cancel Thanksgiving?
No, Francesca Hong said in a 7 August 2026 Politico podcast that Thanksgiving was her "favourite holiday" and she did not want to cancel it. However, during a 5 August 2026 CNN interview, she did not directly answer when asked if she still believed it should be cancelled, giving a 46-second response instead.
Which outlets covered Francesca Hong’s comments on Thanksgiving?
The story was covered by one centre-rated outlet, Internewscast, and six right-rated outlets: the New York Post, The National Pulse, democraticaccent.com, wfmd.com, Twitchy and ussanews.com. No left-rated outlet carried the story, as reported by MediaBias News.

Read it at the source

46 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

8

Centre

9
Show 1 more

Right

26
Show 18 more

Not rated

3

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Francesca Hong revises Thanksgiving stance after 2021 call | MediaBias News