CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip likes to think of herself as the guardian of truth and decorum, but her desires for such things almost always only go one way. On Wednesday, one of Phillip’s guests, far-left philosopher, professor, and activist Cornel West, dropped two N-words, claimed the situation for black people in America is basically no different today than it was 250 years ago, and declared that the entire country is now experiencing that in Minneapolis. Phillip didn’t see enough of a problem to object.
After conservative Scott Jennings finished talking about “well-funded agitators,” West rebuked him, “Where you see professional agitators, I see courageous citizens who have a righteous indignation and a moral outrage when their city—and this is Prince’s city.”
Abby Phillip's double standard of what she allows to go unquestioned on her show was on full display last night as Cornel West dropped two N-words, "I come from a people who have been demonized and vilified and terrorized for 250 years in the American experiment. That's what it… pic.twitter.com/MK18m3Uury
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) January 29, 2026
West declared, “Now, I come from a people who have been demonized and vilified and terrorized for 250 years in the American experiment. That's what it is to n*****ize a dignified black people. Make sure that they are intimidated, terrified, full of fear, and not able to straighten their backs up. But thank God, the black freedom movement straightens our backs up.”
Doubling down, he continued, “Well, what we're witnessing, and this is why the larger picture is important here, we're at a—we're right on the edge cliff in terms of the possibility of America sustaining itself as a social experiment in the best sense or just becoming an empire full of might and force. So, when you n*****ize a whole country, you start treating all of your citizens the way black folk have been treated for 250 years.”
West, who makes more money than you, said this on a TV show hosted by a black woman, who also makes more than you, wants you to think the way black people are treated in this country hasn’t changed.
Concluding, West added, “So, from when I see the police killing these two precious folks, Sister Renee, and my dear brother, Alex, and I've had so many partners killed by the police growing up on the chocolate side of town, right, what has been the response? Thank God for Martin King. How do we learn how to love in the face of this hatred? How do we learn how to fight for freedom for everybody in all parts of town in the face of all of this terror? And America now has the blues, or you don't learn something from the best of the blues people, we are going to lose a democracy. So, this is not just about meticulous details. We're talking about something huge at stake.”
Phillip thinks it is a “slur” to refer to not refer to someone by their preferred pronouns when talking about transgender sports. She will kick you off the air if you make a beeper joke to Mehdi Hasan, but West’s rantings only merited, “It does seem that we are at a critical moment where there's a real question about whether ICE needs to be reined in. That's a question being asked by Republicans and by Democrats.”
Perhaps because Phillip also thinks it is self-evident that black candidates in this country are victimized by voters’ racial biases.
Here is a transcript for the January 28 show:
CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
1/28/2026
10:09 PM ET
CORNEL WEST: No. But where you see professional agitators, I see courageous citizens who have a righteous indignation and a moral outrage when their city — and this is Prince’s city.
Now, you know, the sign of the times, 1987, when it's being terrorized, it's being traumatized. Communities are being vilified and demonized.
Now, I come from a people who have been demonized and vilified and terrorized for 250 years in the American experiment. That's what it is to n*****ize a dignified black people. Make sure that they are intimidated, terrified, full of fear, and not able to straighten their backs up. But thank God, the black freedom movement straightens our backs up.
Well, what we're witnessing, and this is why the larger picture is important here, we're at a—we're right on the edge cliff in terms of the possibility of America sustaining itself as a social experiment in the best sense or just becoming an empire full of might and force. So, when you n*****ize a whole country, you start treating all of your citizens the way black folk have been treated for 250 years.
So, from when I see the police killing these two precious folks, Sister Renee, and my dear brother, Alex, and I've had so many partners killed by the police growing up on the chocolate side of town, right, what has been the response? Thank God for Martin King. How do we learn how to love in the face of this hatred? How do we learn how to fight for freedom for everybody in all parts of town in the face of all of this terror? And America now has the blues, or you don't learn something from the best of the blues people, we are going to lose a democracy.
So, this is not just about meticulous details. We're talking about something huge at stake.
ABBY PHILLIP: It does seem that we are at a critical moment where there's a real question about whether ICE needs to be reined in. That's a question being asked by Republicans and by Democrats.
