CNN host Chris Cuomo made a lighthearted joke about his “preferred pronouns” during the network’s LGBT-focused town hall event on Thursday night, but quickly felt compelled to apologize.
Flexing her LGBT chops, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) told Cuomo at the outset, “My pronouns are she, her and hers.”
“She, her and hers? Mine, too,” Cuomo quipped.
“All right,” the presidential hopeful said back, unamused.
The CNN host was quickly hit with backlash online for his egregious transgression.
“Chris Cuomo just mocked Sen. Kamala Harris saying her pronouns by responding ‘mine too’ and the gasp I let out. Not. Okay,” said The Advocate’s Editor-in-Chief Zach Stafford.
Chris Cuomo just mocked Sen. Kamala Harris saying her pronouns by responding "mine too" and the gasp I let out.
Not. Okay.
— Zach Stafford (@ZachStafford) October 11, 2019
“Anyone else think it’s uncool for Chris Cuomo to treat pronouns like a joke at a debate centered on LGBTQ issues?” Fox 13 journalist Rebecca Green asked.
Anyone else think it's uncool for Chris Cuomo to treat pronouns like a joke at a debate centered on LGBTQ issues?
— Rebecca Green (@wordofgreen) October 11, 2019
Cuomo posted a public apology to social media later that night in which he insisted to those now questioning his commitment to the LGBT cause that he truly is “an ally”:
“PLEASE READ: When Sen. Harris said her pronouns were she her and her’s, I said mine too. I should not have. I apologize. I am an ally of the LGBTQ community, and I am sorry because I am committed to helping us achieve equality. Thank you for watching our townhall.”
PLEASE READ: When Sen. Harris said her pronouns were she her and her's, I said mine too. I should not have. I apologize. I am an ally of the LGBTQ community, and I am sorry because I am committed to helping us achieve equality. Thank you for watching our townhall.
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) October 11, 2019
The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald hit both Harris and Cuomo over the incident.
“Is Sen. Harris also going to announce her pronouns at the start of events at the Iowa State Fair, farm lunches in New Hampshire, and in churches in South Carolina, or is this just for the LGBT groups?” the journalist asked. “That said, I’m very relieved to learn that Chris Cuomo is a good ‘ally.'”
Is Sen. Harris also going to announce her pronouns at the start of events at the Iowa State Fair, farm lunches in New Hampshire, and in churches in South Carolina, or is this just for the LGBT groups? That said, I'm very relieved to learn that Chris Cuomo is a good "ally": https://t.co/xUNJuHQZZ6
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 11, 2019
The town hall also took heat from folks on the Right over their use of two transgender nine-year-old children. One child was accompanied by their mother who posed a question. The other child, Jacob, was met with thunderous applause when the nine-year-old asked a question to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“My name’s Jacob, and I’m a nine-year-old transgender American,” the child, a biological female, said.
Warren, as well as the CNN audience, loudly applauded the child’s declaration of transgenderism. “All right, Jacob!” the senator gushed.
Jacob asked the senator what she’ll do her first week as president to make transgender kids “feel safer in schools” and what schools should be doing so all the child has to “worry about” is “homework.”
“Let me start by saying I want to have a secretary of education that who both believes in public education and believes in the value of every one of our kids and is willing to enforce our civil rights laws,” the presidential hopeful responded, as reported by The Washington Examiner. “We’ve had some secretaries of education who’ve been better, and we’ve had one that’s been a whole lot worse. Her name is Betsy DeVos. So, when I’m president, she’ll be gone.”
“I want to make sure that the person I think is the right secretary of education meets you and and hears your story, and then I want you to tell me if you think that’s the right person and then we’ll make the deal,” the presidential hopeful told the child.
WATCH:
Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris panders to CNN's LGBT town hall, says: "My pronouns are 'she/her/hers'"
CNN's Chris Cuomo mocks her: "Mine too!" pic.twitter.com/aXX3HNkVLp
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 11, 2019