CNN’S Don Lemon told a New York audience Friday that he has an “obligation” to call President Trump “racist” or “racist-adjacent” during broadcasts because the evidence points to no other alternative.
The co-anchor of “CNN Tonight” told attendees at Variety’s Entertainment & Technology NYC Summit that calling the president a racist is what journalists should do as a matter of integrity. His reasoning: an objective analysis of the situation “leads you to nothing else but this president being racist.”
“He’s certainly racist-adjacent,” Mr. Lemon, the keynote speaker, said. “If you have the evidence that shows you, that leads you to nothing else but this president being racist, then I feel it’s my obligation as a journalist to say it. On [Jan. 11 when] I said it, and I don’t regret saying it. I believe that to be true.”
The CNN personality added that he loves going to work each day because CNN has refused to “pick sides” regarding the Trump administration.
.@DonLemon calls @FoxNews state-run TV | #VarietyEntTech https://t.co/p7sI8g8IRa pic.twitter.com/EhrryML3u1
— Variety (@Variety) May 4, 2018
“The other cable networks have picked sides. I know people like to say that CNN has picked sides. We picked the side of truth. I think in this era, the Trump era, the truth can seem partisan when it’s not,” he said. “The other networks have picked sides. If you watch one, you think the president always smells like flowers.”
“What network would that be?” the discussion moderator asked.
“That would be Fox,” Mr. Lemon replied. “It is. It’s state-run TV. It’s nothing else. Let’s be honest. That’s what it is.”
.@DonLemon on calling President Donald Trump racist on live TV | #VarietyEntTech https://t.co/p7sI8g8IRa pic.twitter.com/ZcIggyyiU9
— Variety (@Variety) May 4, 2018
Mr. Lemon referenced Mr. Trump’s rhetoric during the 2016 election towards Gold Star father Khizr Khan — who appeared at the Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton — as evidence of racism.
The president’s reaction to the August 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, was also cited as indisputable proof of racism.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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