LISTEN: C-SPAN Caller Threatens to Kill Brian Stelter and Don Lemon: If ‘I See Them I’m Going to Shoot Them’
President Donald Trump‘s seething animosity toward the press hit home with CNN’s Brian Stelter, who shared a death threat against him and colleague Don Lemon, the audio of which he played on the air Sunday.
The message came from a C-SPAN caller named Don, who falsely accused both Stelter and Lemon of labeling all Trump supporters racists, which Stelter notes is a lie.
“They don’t even know these Americans out here and they are calling us racists because we voted for Trump? Come on. Give me a break,” the caller said. “They started the war. I see them, I’m going to shoot them. Bye.”
While Stelter said he didn’t know where the man would have gotten the impression that he ever called Trump voters racists, he recalled that the night before, Fox News’ Sean Hannity played a clip of him asking whether racial anxiety could be related to the president’s rise to power, something which research has proved true.
Stelter made clear he wasn’t faulting the Fox host for the caller’s threat, but he thought it was worth acknowledging that the two events were just a day apart.
“I don’t know if the C-SPAN caller watched Hannity,” Stelter added. “I’m not blaming Hannity. I just thought the timing was odd.”
Stelter, who has routinely called out Trump’s demonization of the media, pointed earlier to the president’s latest round of attacks launched that morning, accusing the press of intentionally sowing public discord, and doubling down on his “enemy of the people” line.
The rhetoric, Stelter said, was all too common.
“Friday’s threatening phone call is a just a tiny illustration of the threats that are out there,” he said. “Many journalists who cover politics say they are receiving more and more threats nowadays in the Trump era.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
[Image via screengrab]
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
