Lemon Debates Cuomo Over Airing Video of Capitol Gunshot Victim: ‘We Should Show That Woman Being Killed on Camera’
CNN hosts Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo debated the editorial value of airing a shocking video that showed a woman being shot and killed during the Capitol mob siege of pro-Trump supporters on Wednesday.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, Lemon called out the “what-aboutism” from conservatives that analogized pro-Trump supporters storming and rioting of the Capitol with the Black Lives Matter, anti-police violence demonstrations from this past summer.
“I think it’s apples and oranges. Don’t talk about Black Lives Matter. Don’t talk about the protests,” he said. “Let’s talk about what happened today. This is supposed to be the greatest democracy, in the world. And in that greatest democracy in the world, today, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, took over the nation’s capitol and caused someone to die.”
“Four people lost their lives, today,” Cuomo pointed out, which prompted Lemon to note one woman was shot and killed in the Capitol during the violent unrest.
The pair then played a short video taken by a documentary crew that captured the moment the woman, 14-year Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, was shot at close range as she and other apparent pro-Trump supporters were breaking windows and trying to breach a locked double door inside the Capitol. At the instant the shot rings out, the video stops but the audio continued.
“So, you saw what we did there, right? We froze the video to save you the aftermath,” Cuomo explained. “I have to be honest with you. This is a discretion call, editorially, that we make to kind of insulate you from the reality of violence. I have always thought it was a mistake.”
“I think we should show it,” Lemon quickly interjected.
“I think it’s a mistake at war,” Cuomo said, continuing on. “I remember the Iraq war, and being over there. And you guys lost interest and you didn’t want to see dead bodies, anymore. And I think, when you get numb to it, you start to forget the significance. It matters that she was taken out there, today. It didn’t have to happen. It should have never happened. None of this should be happening.”
“Chris, we showed Ahmaud Arbery being shot on camera,” Lemon pointed out. “We showed George Floyd losing his life on camera. We show a lot of people who are killed by police, mostly black people, black men, being killed on camera. We should show that woman being killed on camera, as well.”
“I don’t make the decisions around here, as to what — there is no difference,” Lemon went on. “A life being lost is a life being lost, regardless of who it is and in what situation. So, I think you are absolutely right. We should show that, to show how horrible these insurrectionists, the horror of their actions, today.”
“The reason that we don’t show it is actually the opposite of why we should,” Cuomo said. “Because we’re not in a place where you’re sensitive. We’re insensitive, that’s the problem. why you can have people break in to your Capitol today and immediately have it explained away by people.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
