CNN’s Don Lemon Defends Controversial Raiders Tweet on Chauvin Verdict: ‘I Wasn’t Offended By It’

CNN’s Don Lemon shrugged off the uproar surrounding a tweet the Las Vegas Raiders sent out following the Derek Chauvin trial verdict.

Lemon joined his CNN colleagues on New Day Wednesday to talk about the fallout from Chauvin being found guilty of all charges for the murder of George Floyd. At one point, Brianna Keilar asked for Lemon’s take on how the Raiders raised eyebrows by reacting to the conviction with a tweet saying “I can breathe” — a reference to the dying words of Floyd and Eric Garner.

Lemon said he received messages from people who were shocked by the tweet and the decision by Raiders owner, Mark Davis, not to delete it despite the blowback. Lemon, though, did not take umbrage with the post.

“I wasn’t offended by it because George Floyd’s family and the people who supported him said as much, that we can breathe now,” said Lemon. “I think we need to give each other a little room to breathe and to be able to have these conversations.”

Lemon continued to say people can take it up with Davis because “it may be offensive to some people, but I do think in this moment, that people were so happy with the outcome.” He also defended the tweet by saying he didn’t find it “harmful” in any major way.

“So maybe in their response, they did something that you didn’t like” Lemon said. “He didn’t say, ‘oh, my gosh, I can’t believe the white cop didn’t get off.’ He’s trying. At least he’s trying…I don’t want to castigate someone for at least trying to do the right thing, even if it may be done in ignorance.”

Watch above, via CNN.