Television personality Montel Williams lashed out at Chicago’s accused Facebook Live torturers on Thursday night, along with those who argue that poor parenting is to blame.
Mr. Williams took to his official Facebook page hours after Chicago police charged four black individuals with a hate crime involving a disabled man. He said anyone who would cut, gag and beat a man while yelling racial epithets should be locked up for life. He then seemingly turned his attention to CNN’s Don Lemon, who said earlier in the week that “bad home training” instead of “evil” was to blame.
“Life in prison. No parole. I’m not interested in whether these kids had a tough life, whether their parents loved them enough, I don’t care,” Mr. Williams, a Marine veteran, said to his nearly 200,000 readers.
“Whether this is a hate crime is a distraction and irrelevant — THIS IS THE COLD BLOODED TORTURE OF AN INNOCENT HUMAN BEING. That’s bigger than a hate crime, it’s bigger than racism (saying F- white people is racist by definition), its bigger than politics.”
The social commentator added, “If you can do this to another human being once, you can’t be trusted to not do it again. My prayers go out to the young man in this disgusting video.”
Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville; Tesfaye Cooper, 18, of Chicago; Brittany Covington, 18, of Chicago; and Tanishia Covington, 24, of Chicago have all been charged with hate crimes and other related felonies for the kidnapping.
SEE ALSO: Don Lemon: Chicago torture video suspects are victims of ‘bad home training’
Authorities said the victim, who was found wandering Chicago’s streets in confusion on Tuesday, is recovering in a local hospital.
“Let me be very clear, the actions in that video are reprehensible,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson told reporters during a Thursday press conference. “That alone with racism have absolutely no place in the city of Chicago or anywhere else for that matter.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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