CNN anchor Don Lemon blinked during a tense exchange with Milwaukee Sheriff Dave Clarke on Sunday night.
Lemon attempted to extract a Kumbyaya moment from Clarke in the aftermath of a mass shooting that left three officers dead and three others wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Sunday. But Clarke was seething with rage over CNN’s rapturous coverage of left wing social justice activist group Black Lives Matter.
After asking Clarke “What’s your message?” — Lemon refused to allow Clarke to complete a sentence, because it wasn’t the viewpoint Lemon was looking for.
“My message has been clear since day one two years ago,” said Clarke. “This anti-cop sentiment from this hateful ideology called Black Lives Matter has fueled this rage against the American police officer. I predicted this two years ago,” said Clarke.
“With all due respect,” Lemon stammered, “do you know that this [massacre] was because of [Black Lives Matter]?”
“Yes I do. I’ve been watching this for two years,” said Clarke. “I predicted this. This anti-police rhetoric sweeping the country has turned out some hateful things inside of people that are now playing themselves out on the American police officer.”
Like the biased, one-sided, arrogant journalist that he is, Lemon kept interrupting the Sheriff, imploring him to “keep the vibe down” and “keep it civil”.
“I’ve got three dead cops and you want me to calm down?“ Clarke said.
Lemon, who is openly gay, was comically impatient and vexed when he couldn’t control the narrative of the discussion.
“Are you going to let me get a word in?” Lemon whined before going to a commercial.
Don Lemon cuts to commercials during tense interview with Sheriff Clarke. pic.twitter.com/uUGVkpU7D1
— Breaking News Feed (@pzf) July 18, 2016
@pzf no legitimate TV producer-host would ever cut away on a TV moment that good.But that's the way it is now. Monolithic. Shut off the mike
— Joe Warmington (@joe_warmington) July 18, 2016