A CNN contributor ripped into Kanye West who is invited to a power lunch with President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner on Thursday.
A CNN panel hosted by Don Lemon heavily criticized the music producer on Wednesday. One CNN guest referred to Kanye using the archaic term “negro.”
“He’s like an attention whore, like the president. He’s all of a sudden now the model spokesperson,” said CNN contributor Tara Setmeyer, who is Black. She added that Kanye was “the token negro of the Trump administration.”
READ MORE: Kanye West to Meet Donald Trump at White House
Lemon laughed hysterically as the outdated term “negro” was tossed around to describe a Black man who rose from humble beginnings to amass unimaginable personal wealth.
“This is ridiculous and no one should be taking Kanye West seriously,” Setmeyer continued. “He clearly has issues. He’s already been hospitalized,” she said.
“Not to trivialize mental health issues, [but] obviously Kanye has taken a turn in a very strange way.”
Congressman Bakari Sellers, who also sat on the panel, used similar language to describe Kanye’s support of the president.
“Kanye West is what happens when negroes don’t read. And we have this now and now Donald Trump is going to use it and pervert and he’s going to have someone who can stand with him and take pictures.”
Lemon laughed throughout the ranting. But CNN contributor Scott Jenkins, who is Caucasian, looked visibly uncomfortable.
“I’m just looking at Scott’s face,” said Lemon, who was clearly amused by Jenkins’ discomfort.
Kanye has faced criticism from other Black people who are outraged at his continued support of President Trump.
Monica Brown, who is currently starring in a reality TV show with rapper T.I. Harris and his wife Tameka Harris, put Kanye on blast for leaving the Democratic plantation.
The Grammy award-winning singer-turned Instagram model told a TMZ videographer that Kanye should “join other Blacks so that we are all speaking together on Black issues.”
She added: “He has to reassess this entire relationship. I think that is going to continually hurt us if we aren’t speaking together in the right places, making the right decisions, doing it the right way.”
Brown conceded that Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian met with President Trump to pardon a grandmother who was sentenced to life in prison on drug charges.
But she stopped short of praising Kanye’s efforts to meet with Trump to bring thousands of jobs to the Black community in Chicago.
Kanye has always insisted that he is an independent thinker who doesn’t follow the crowd. He is at the forefront of the #Walkaway movement that encourages disillusioned Black people to leave the Democratic Party.
President Trump’s approval rating among Black people following the election in 2016 was just 8%. His approval rating among Black people as jumped to 36% in the 2 years since the election.
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