‘This Is Shocking’: House Democrats Condemn CNN for Airing ‘Blatant Islamophobia’ Against Ilhan Omar
Several Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), condemned CNN on Wednesday for platforming “blatant Islamophobia” against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Minutes after Omar was interviewed by CNN host Abby Phillip on Tuesday evening, CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings – a former George W. Bush White House official – described Omar as “a public relations agent for Hamas sitting in the United States Congress.”
None of Jennings’ fellow panelists, including Phillip, S.E. Cupp, CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons, and CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston, pushed back against the remark, and Cupp went on to accuse Omar of trafficking in “anti-Semitic tropes that seek to strip Israel and the Jewish people of their sovereignty.”
The moment sparked outrage on social media, with several Democratic members of Congress demanding an apology from CNN.
“How on earth is this kind of blatant Islamophobia so casually accepted without pushback?” questioned Ocasio-Cortez. “This is shocking.”
“Scott Jennings’ comments are reminiscent of the anti-Muslim bigotry we saw in the George Bush post-9/11 era,” reacted Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). “It is disgusting and must not be normalized. CNN should denounce this hateful, dangerous and blatant Islamophobia immediately.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) tweeted, “Blatant Islamophobia has no place in our society — let alone on primetime TV. It’s dangerous, unacceptable, and cannot be normalized,” while former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan called Jennings’ comments “disgusting” and racist.
CNN also received criticism from Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Minnesota, and Justice Democrats, which warned such comments could result in “anti-Muslim hate crimes.”
Watch above via CNN.
