A former CNN producer called on his former employer to “step in” and stop host Don Lemon from spreading “offensive” and “dangerous” rhetoric in the wake of the Boulder shooting.
“Someone at CNN needs to step in. This hyperbole isn’t just offensive, it’s actually dangerous,” former CNN producer Steve Krakauer tweeted Wednesday.
Someone at CNN needs to step in. This hyperbole isn’t just offensive, it’s actually dangerous. https://t.co/iABa9jkjs7
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) March 24, 2021
His message was in response to a segment where Lemon said Americans are at constant risk of being shot to death.
“Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point. The odds that in a country of 325 million souls that we won’t be the ones who get hit by the next bullets that start flying. We won’t be the one that gets that phone call about someone you love who did. That phone call that changes your life,” Lemon said as CNN’s on-screen graphic matched his spoken words.
“But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse. Are you really willing to keep playing those odds? Haven’t we learned after this year of pandemic, a year of loss of life, isolation, mass death of nearly 550,000 Americans that life is just that precious? If not now, when? When will we ever learn? I don’t want to have to say those words again,” Lemon continued.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck also slammed Lemon for the comments and “insane” chyrons.
“I know I say it all the time, but I’ll say it again — with people like Don Lemon in such a prominent position, if you’re on the right, CNN truly hates you. They hate what you think, how you vote, and how you live your lives,” he tweeted.
Here’s more. Absolute insane chyrons.
I know I say it all the time, but I’ll say it again — with people like Don Lemon in such a prominent position, if you’re on the right, CNN truly hates you. They hate what you think, how you vote, and how you live your lives. pic.twitter.com/VFpuUvFpvy
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 24, 2021
This chyron on the right is supremely stupid. I mean, you can do this with anything that’s tragic — car accidents, divorce, domestic violence incidents, suicides. It’s all a logical fallacy. pic.twitter.com/d5BDqiCYs7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 24, 2021
Lemon’s comments follow the Boulder, Colorado, shooting, where 10 were killed inside a grocery store on Monday. The suspect has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.
President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass gun-control measures on Tuesday in the wake of the shooting.
“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future,” he said.
“This is not, it should not be, a partisan issue. This is an American issue,” he said. “It will save lives, American lives. We have to act.”
However, Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz slammed Democrats’ renewed calls for gun control, accusing them of taking part in “ridiculous theater” during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
CNN did not immediately return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
