CNN’s Don Lemon Stuns Chris Cuomo With George Floyd Monologue: ‘This is the Reason Colin Kaepernick Was Taking a Knee’
CNN host Don Lemon hit network colleague Chris Cuomo with a monologue on Wednesday evening as riots took place in Minneapolis over the police brutality against and subsequent death of George Floyd.
As Cuomo spoke about the coronavirus pandemic, Lemon changed the subject.
“So, in that same vein, because we are talking about these viruses that are infecting America,” said Lemon. “Imagine if that was me on the ground, how you would feel as a friend, as someone I spend a lot of time with. Imagine how people around this country feel when their friends, like you, both of us are of a different background, when their friends say nothing. When they do nothing. except send out a tweet or say, ‘Oh, man, that’s terrible. I can’t believe that happens.'”
“Then when they see everyday racism, they don’t stand up for it. Imagine how that feels to people of color in this country. It feels terrible. Is that really being a friend?” he questioned, adding, “I’m not saying you specifically, you understand what I’m saying. You know what I’m saying.”
Cuomo responded, “I totally understand and, you know, the only word I can use is just hurt, it all hurts.”
“I’ve heard from so many people that I love that they’re so afraid that it’s going to be them, it’s going to be their kid, and white people roll their eyes like, ‘Come on, man. This only happens like once in a while,'” he continued. “It doesn’t have to happen that often if every time it happens in your mind it seems to go unanswered in terms of why it’s okay.”
Lemon shot back, “But that’s the problem Chris… It happens a lot. We just don’t see it. We’re just seeing from the video. This is the reason that Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee, and then people were upset. The president of the United States having the nerve to call him, and then others standing up for this sort of injustice, to call them ‘sons of bitches.’ This is why people are standing up, so that it doesn’t lead to this.”
“And the nerve and the gall of people to say, ‘Oh, my gosh, stop doing this, I want to enjoy my football game.’ Now think about that now in this context, how selfish that sounds and how you might feel if that was your loved one on the ground, and that there were people who had been protesting this all along and who have been fed for up years and they’re trying to get your attention,” Lemon argued. “By something as respectful as taking a knee at a football game.”
Later on in the monologue, Lemon claimed, “To stop this, it is incumbent on people who hold the power in this society to help to do that. To do the heavy lifting. And guess who that is? Who is that, Chris?”
“White people,” replied Cuomo.
Watch above via CNN.
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