Justin Jones Hits Back at TN Lawmaker Who Expelled Him: ‘Pulled Down the Pants of a Referee’ And Kept His Job

Now-former Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones hit back at GOP Rep. Jeremy Faison, who led the expulsion of Jones from the state legislature, by noting behavior Faison engaged in yet still kept his seat.

On Thursday, the Tennessee House voted to expel Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson over a protest calling for gun reform in the wake of the shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School that killed 6 people. The legislature spared Gloria Johnson, a 60-year-old white woman who participated in the protest. That disparity has been flagged by the Tennessee Three and others as a racist double standard.

Faison — who is chairman of the Republican caucus that pushed through the expulsions — spoke against the protests Thursday night, but walked out on a CNN interview before he could be pressed.

On Friday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, co-anchor Don Lemon asked Jones for his response to Faison’s criticism, and Jones pointed out Faison once tried to de-pants a referee (“The attempt was unsuccessful” per reports) and was not expelled:

FAISON: I’d like to add to y’all. They’ve not backed down from that either. I told them earlier, I feel like if they would have said, “You know what, we messed up.” I mean, what American wouldn’t Tuman bring forgiveness and redemption. But they doubled down and went so far as to stand in the well today and said “I’d do it again.”

DON LEMON: You haven’t apologized? What, what is your response to that?

JUSTIN JONES: I mean, I think Representative Faison needs to reflect on his own actions as a representative. Just earlier this year, last year, Rep. Faison Pulled down the pants of a referee because he got mad at a basketball game. And he’s still in Republican leadership, not expelled, not sanctioned in any way. And so for him to tell us to apologize for standing up for our constituents, I told the speaker and I told that body yesterday that I would apologize when they apologize to the families in covenant and in the mass shootings across this nation particularly, but particularly to our state at Covenant and Antioch in the Waffle House mass shooting for these reckless gun laws that they passed that allowed people to lose their loved ones, apologize to the families of the victims of these mass shootings. And we will apologize for our for our actions.

DON LEMON: I think I know the answer to this. But I have to ask you anyway, just for the record, so you could be reelected. Do you want to serve again justin?

JUSTIN JONES: I mean, definitely. I think what happened was a travesty of democracy because it they expelled the two youngest Black lawmakers, which is no coincidence, from the Tennessee legislature, because we are outspoken, because we fight for our district. I will want to continue to do that. And whether I’m inside the chamber, outside the chamber, because what we saw in Tennessee yesterday was was an attack on democracy and very overt racism, as you could see that the two youngest Black lawmakers were kicked out. But our colleague, my dear sister Gloria Johnson, a white woman, was not. And we see clearly, the nation has seen clearly what is going on in Tennessee yet.

DON LEMON: Listen to say there’s a double standard. Some people may sort of speculate about it, but I think it is obvious, considering that the two Black members who were men. Right, were were expelled, but the white woman was not.

The two expelled lawmakers could potentially be re-appointed within a matter of weeks.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.