Bernie Sanders Scolds Crowd For Cheering David Koch’s Death: ‘We Needn’t Do That’

Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rebuked a crowd of supporters for cheering the recent death of conservative billionaire David Koch at an event Saturday.

Some critics of the late billionaire reacted to his death on Friday with detailed reminders of his legacy, while others — such as Bill Maher — responded with venomous celebration. At a Minnesota State Fair Q&A Saturday, Sanders took the former path, while admonishing the crowd for cheering a mention of Koch’s death.

An audience member who identified himself as “Sam from St. Paul” told Sanders he wanted to ask about criminal justice, and said “Yesterday, oligarch David Koch passed away” to a robust cheer from many in the crowd.

“And we’re going to be dealing with his pollution and the radicalization of his politics, he’s made a killing off of the misery of other people, and I want to talk about retroactive justice,” he continued, and asked “How would you follow up for the victims of folks who are coming down in the future generations?”

“I don’t applaud, you know, the death of somebody. We needn’t do that,” Sanders said, to little discernible reaction from the crowd.

“I think what we can say is that the Koch brothers and other billionaires, because of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, have been able to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to represent the wealthy and the powerful, and the fossil fuel industry, which is where the Koch brothers made a lot of their money,” Sanders added.

He then mentioned several criminal justice issues — like cash bail, mass incarceration, and marijuana — that were unrelated to pollution or the environment. Sanders did release a “Green New Deal” proposal this week that included civil and criminal prosecutions for fossil fuel companies.

Koch was 79 years old at the time of his death.

Watch the clip above, via Bernie Sanders for President.