Oh, CNN — how the mighty have fallen. What once was the beacon of reporting has become nothing more than Fox News Lite. All the stupid remarks, but easier to swallow.
Arguably, one of the worst “reporters” on CNN is Don Lemon. Some of his greatest hits include asking a woman, who was allegedly orally raped by Bill Cosby, why she didn’t bite his penis, and playing with a toy airplane during the disappearance of Malaysian Air Flight 370.
Now, Don Lemon has struck again with an absolutely moronic and inflammatory question.
Last night, Lemon hosted Arsalan Iftikhar, a human rights lawyer and founder of the website, The Muslim Guy.
Iftikhar appeared on CNN Tonight to discuss the terror attack in France. During the first four minutes of the interview, Iftikhar explained why Muslims should not have to defend their religion over the actions of a few extremists.
Iftikhar explained,
It’s important not to conflate the actions of a very few to a population of 1.7 billion people, which represents 20 percent of the world’s population. You know, if people want to blame Islam for things, you know, they can blame us for inventing algebra or modern medical anesthesia or having five out of the last 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners.
When Christians commit acts of terror, we don’t asks priests and pastors to go on national television to condemn these acts, but sadly Muslim public intellectuals, thinkers, leaders, and Islamic scholars have that double standard that we have to deal with. I think it’s important to keep in mind that bringing religion into it at all is actually serving the purposes of the terrorists.
That is when Don Lemon dropped the hammer, asking:
Again in August, 16 percent of French citizens support ISIS. Would you describe those who support ISIS as Islamic extremists? Do you support ISIS?
A visibly stunned Iftikhar responded:
Wait. Did you just ask me if I support ISIS? I just answered your question. I said that obviously these 16 percent of people support the ideology, but again, I don’t think that would necessarily extrapolate to supporting of killing of innocent people.
Many people have difficulty separating the difference between a religious belief and a political ideology. Some will say, “How hard is it to say, ‘No. I do not support ISIS.’”
That, however, goes exactly against what Iftikhar was trying to say.
For a so-called professional reporter to ask their guest such an offensive and outlandish question is beyond reproach.
Then again, what more can we expect from a man who was one step away from saying, “VRRROOOOMMMM,” on the air?
Don Lemon plays with a toy plane during the disappearance of Malaysian Air Flight 370.
Image Source: Screen grab
Watch the interview here
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZVDedI_ZXU?rel=0]H/T: Gawker | Featured Image: Screen Grab
