Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders scolded the crowd at a Minnesota State Fair Q&A on Saturday for cheering on the death of billionaire philanthropist David Koch.
An audience member was given the microphone to ask Sanders a question and began with, “Yesterday, oligarch David Koch passed away,” which prompted applause from his fellow audience members.
“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. “How would you follow up for the victims of folks who are coming down in the future generations?”
Sanders, however, wasn’t pleased with the cheering.
“I don’t applaud, you know, the death of somebody. We needn’t do that,” the 2020 Democratic presidential contender said.
He continued, “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 went on to explain how his criminal justice plan will fix a system that is “fundamentally broken” and “racist.”
The incident comes as Koch’s Friday passing was met with celebration from some liberal activists. HBO’s Bill Maher gladly joined in, rejoicing on Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher.
“F–k him … I’m glad he’s dead,” Maher said.
Koch passed away on Friday from prostate cancer at age 79.
