OPINION:
Don Lemon, by another name, would be vilified by the left, hated by the Democratic Party, fired by CNN and relegated to the scrap heap of has-been celebrity-ism, the same one occupied by southern cook Paula Deen and disgraced sitcom comedian Roseanne Barr.
But Lemon furthers the left’s narrative against the right — the one that says President Donald Trump is racist and that conservatives, by nature, are bigots. So he’s safe.
His job’s safe. His reputation’s intact. Heck, his name has probably just been added to several New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles elite party A-Lists.
Deen, if you recall, was tossed to the Food Network side some years ago when it surfaced that she had used the N-word on a least one occasion in her long life. Barr, much more recently, was booted by ABC and dropped by her talent agency, ICM, after tweeting out some ugly Muslim Brotherhood-slash-monkey messaging about Barack Obama’s former White House aide, Valerie Jarrett.
Lemon?
While opining on air about rapper Kanye West’s brotherly embracing of Trump in a videotaped Oval Office visit, Lemon said this: “I have no animosity for Kanye West. I’m just going to be honest and I may get in a lot of trouble for it. I actually feel bad for him. What I saw was a minstrel show today. Him in front of all these white people, mostly white people, embarrassing himself and embarrassing Americans, but mostly African-Americans, because every one of them is sitting either at home or with their phones, watching this, cringing. … Kanye needs help. … We have to stop pretending … like this is normal.”
In other words — another way to put Lemon’s words: Quit acting like a white man, Mr. West. Quit behaving as if you’re not a brother.
Because, as we all know, black men, real black men, cannot respect, admire, support or — gasp! — even like Trump, because that would violate the cardinal rule: Trump Is A Racist.
Lemon also laughed during a discussion with his panel of guests when West was referred to as “the token negro of the Trump administration,” and when West was jabbed as a pure example of “what happens when Negros don’t read.”
For that, former football star Hershel Walker called for Lemon to be fired.
In a tweet, Walker wrote: “Went to bed appalled over @donlemon despicable behavior laughing at [guests’] @TaraSetmayer and @Bakari_Sellers awful remarks about Kanye West’s visit with @realDonaldTrump!! Woke up wondering why @CNN doesn’t take all three off the air? #SHAMEFUL #CNN.”
He has a point. Could you imagine the outcry had a national television news host or group of pundits carried out this same type of conversation during Barack Obama’s administration?
But the left is selective about its targets of prosecution. Democrats don’t disdain racist rhetoric when it furthers their political goals.
Fact is, critics of Trump get by with a lot more than supporters of Trump.
Had West gone to the White House to slap Trump’s face, rather than hug and praise him, it’s very likely CNN and the rest on the left would be hailing him as a hero right now. He would be the most wanted, most revered guest in mainstream media — not a recommendation for psychological help.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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