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“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion,” Obama said in the message, quoting the late South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Obama’s tweet garnered 2.3 million “likes,” the third most popular of all time, according to the Twitter-tracking site Favstar. The message was retweeted 980,000 times.
Obama’s tweet struck a chord after the death of a 32-year-old woman hit by a car driven into a crowd by a suspected white supremacist on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia.
President Donald Trump drew fire for a tepid initial response to the violence, and he followed up Monday with a stronger condemnation of “those who spread violence in the name of bigotry.”
Obama gave additional quotes from Mandela.
“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love,” a tweet read.
“For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
The most-liked tweet of all time was from singer Ariana Grande earlier this year — saying “from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry” — after a deadly attack at her Manchester concert.
That tweet dethroned the popular photo tweet from the 2014 Oscars ceremony by actress Ellen DeGeneres.
Obama’s tweet also prompted more than 37,000 responses, including both positive and negative comments.
