MSNBC host Chris Hayes was forced to apologize Wednesday for the misidentification of George Wallace as a Republican in a chyron during a segment on Wallace's efforts to stop integration in 1963.
"This was a stupid, inexcusable, historically illiterate mistake," Hayes wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "I should have caught it and apologize for failing to."
The segment, which aired Tuesday night, marked 50 years since Wallace, a Democrat, attempted to intervene in the enrollment of two black students at the University of Alabama.
Hayes' show, All In With Chris Hayes, has struggled mightily in the 8 p.m. hour since its debut earlier this year, with ratings down 32 percent in total viewership from the same hour in 2012. MSNBC suffered a double-digit drop in primetime viewership during the month of May over 2012, with Rachel Maddow posting her lowest ratings since the debut of her show five years ago.