Retired legend Herschel Walker calls for CNN to fire Don Lemon after ‘despicable’ racist Kanye comments

October 13, 2018 | | Print Article

The uproar over a racist CNN segment has reached a fevered pitch, with even relatively nonpartisan individuals like Herschel Walker now feeling compelled to chime in.

In a tweet posted Thursday morning, the retired NFL legend called on CNN to fire the three contributors who had the night before referred to rapper Kanye West with derogatory terms such as “token negro.”

Look:

During Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight,” host Don Lemon had sat back and laughed in glee as analyst Bakari Sellers and political commentator Tara Setmayer had disrespected West with some of the most “full blown racist” rhetoric seen on TV in recent decades.

Responding to news that West had scheduled a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss criminal justice reform, Sellers had said, “Kanye West is what happens when Negroes don’t read.”

Setmayer had concurred, saying, “Now all of a sudden Kanye, because he’s put on a MAGA hat and he’s an attention whore like the president, he’s all of a sudden now the model spokesperson. He’s the token negro of the Trump Administration?”

“This is ridiculous. And no one should be taking Kanye West seriously. He clearly has issues. He’s already been hospitalized. You know, not to trivialize mental health issues, but obviously Kanye has taken a turn in a very strange way.”

Watch:

This rhetoric earned massive backlash in part because, one, it was patently racist, and two, West is not some mentally incompetent nincompoop and so-called “token.” Thanks to efforts by the rapper and his wife, socialite Kim Kardashian, a 62-year-old black great-grandmother who was serving a life sentence for nonviolent drug-related offenses has been released from prison.

Chances are that more blacks who’ve been hit with unfair sentences will soon be released as well thanks to their efforts. It’s unclear who in the black community, if anyone, that Lemon, Sellers and Setmayer have helped in a similar manner.

What is clear is that none of three CNN contributors seem to be even slightly bothered by the criticism that’s been lodged their way. Particularly Setmayer, who responded to Walker’s tweet by accusing him of wanting to silence her.

Walker replied by noting that he had merely been noting the obvious — that she and her cohorts are shameless bullies:

As of Saturday morning, Setmayer’s post had only 1,200 likes, whereas Walker’s had over 16,000. And whereas the replies to the NFL legend’s reply were mostly supportive of him, the replies to the commentator’s post were surely not:

Lemon has not yet responded to the controversy, though he did double down on his apparent hatred for Trump by invoking West’s mother to shame him for having met with the president Thursday. Nor has CNN responded, which isn’t surprising since, well, this is CNN.

Vivek Saxena

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