Many on both sides of the political aisle have spent the last week calling for embattled CNN host Don Lemon’s head on a platter — or at least his job — but Fox News’ Tammy Bruce isn’t quite ready to demand that he be fired.
Bruce published an opinion column on the Fox News website on Wednesday, and she argued that however “blatantly sexist” and “infuriating” Lemon’s comments had been, demanding his ouster would only feed the cancel culture monster.
Lemon, 56 — whose Presidents’ Day vacation sparked rumors that he had been benched by the network — incurred the wrath of women everywhere when he claimed that former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), 51, was no longer “in her prime.”
He faced immediate pushback from his two female co-hosts — Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins — and as video clips of the exchange quickly went viral, many began to suggest that CNN should cut the embattled anchor loose.
But Bruce said otherwise, explaining, “It was and is infuriating, and almost immediately the cancel culture mob had formed. As someone who has worked most of her adult life advocating for women, I agree that pushing back on bigotry like this that demeans women is a must. However, demanding that Lemon lose his job goes too far. Firing him would normalize the expectation that someone will be professionally and personally annihilated for a dumb comment, backward attitude, or unapproved opinion.”
Bruce went on to say that demanding Lemon’s ouster would only serve to further the growth of cancel culture — the need to purge all who have ever made a wrong move or had a wrong thought from the public discourse, often destroying their lives in the process.
“Courtesy of bloodthirsty Marxists disguised as American liberals, the scourge of cancel culture has been charging through Western civilization like a monster truck speeding through the Mojave Desert, with piles of hapless victims smashing against the windshield at record pace,” Bruce commented — and she added that the conservative position would be to allow CNN to handle its own.
“Lemon’s latest foot-in-mouth episode presents a perfect opportunity to stand against his presumed annihilation and be consistent with our rejection of the left’s attempt to train us all into becoming cancel culture assassins,” she said.
CNN CEO Chris Licht’s approach — to offer “formal training” to Lemon and give him the opportunity to learn from his mistake — Bruce said was actually “a perfect example of how to proceed without bending to the mob that wants someone stoned to death because they expressed wrongthink.”