A former CNN producer called on the network to stop one of its hosts, Don Lemon, from using “dangerous” rhetoric surrounding his coverage of the Monday mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
In the aftermath of the shooting that killed 10, Lemon used his platform on CNN to advocate for gun control and slam Republicans for resisting such measures by Democrats. The CNN host also insisted that Americans are playing the “odds” that they will not be killed in a mass shooting by not supporting gun control measures.
“Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point. The odds that in a country of 325 million souls that we won’t be the ones who get hit by the next bullets that start flying. We won’t be the one that gets that phone call about someone you love who did. That phone call that changes your life,” Lemon said.
“But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse. Are you really willing to keep playing those odds? Haven’t we learned after this year of pandemic, a year of loss of life, isolation, mass death of nearly 550,000 Americans that life is just that precious? If not now, when? When will we ever learn? I don’t want to have to say those words again,” the host added.
Media critic and executive producer of “The Megyn Kelly Show” Steve Krakauer, who formerly worked for CNN as a producer, called on his old network to “step in” and stop Lemon from using “dangerous” rhetoric to advocate for gun control.
“Someone at CNN needs to step in. This hyperbole isn’t just offensive, it’s actually dangerous,” Krakauer said.
Krakauer had quote-tweeted a post by NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck saying, “As someone who’s struggled with depression and suicide, it’s offensive for Don to so callously say in this chyron that ‘every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point.’ Before a break, Don brings up the National Suicide Prevention Line … absolutely insulting.”
Someone at CNN needs to step in. This hyperbole isn’t just offensive, it’s actually dangerous. https://t.co/iABa9jkjs7
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) March 24, 2021
Democratic lawmakers and activists have called for gun control in the wake of a mass shooting in a grocery store in Boulder. The shooting was allegedly carried out by a 21-year-old, Syrian-born man who was known to the FBI. Family members and others had reported the man to law enforcement for mental illness.
Former President Barack Obama has backed calls for gun control, releasing a statement following the shooting calling for stricter gun control measures.
“It will take time to root out the disaffection, racism, and misogyny that fuels so many of these senseless acts of violence. But we can make it harder for those with hate in their hearts to buy weapons of war,” Obama said.
“We can overcome opposition by cowardly politicians and the pressure of a gun lobby that opposes any limit on the ability of anyone to assemble an arsenal,” he added. “We can, and we must. A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country.”
H/t Fox News