Anderson Cooper ended Thursday’s latest CNN coronavirus town hall with an emotion-driven, hypocritical, and sophomoric rant complaining about “the phony online outrage machine,” after CNN received widespread blowback for having climate change activist Greta Thunberg as a guest. This was despite the town hall’s billing of facts, science, and part of the show title having the phrase Facts and Fears.
Sounding more like a perturbed tween, Cooper took cheap shots at Donald Trump Jr., well-intentioned observers, and news outlets like Forbes and the New York Post. Since CNN’s entire existence under Jeffrey Zucker has been churning out phony outrage, peddling lies, and hatred for those not on their team, this meltdown was rich.
And aside from the fact that CNN was not a serious news organization, Cooper shot himself in the foot by peddling the liberal media-wide narrative that the President should “liberate the scientists” and slink into the background. In other words, the line “listen to the scientists” doesn’t apply to Zuckerville.
Cooper started the screed live after the taped interview with Thunberg, which was fairly benign as it focused on her efforts with UNICEF to raise money and raise awareness for childhood starvation amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
“So, we taped that interview earlier today as I mentioned and I just wanted to take a moment to point out a kind of surreal, absurd drama that played out over the last 24 hours online and amazingly in some reputable news sources,” Cooper began.
He then put on-screen still shot promos for the town hall, both of which included Thunberg.
This led him to complain that “[a]pparently, someone with a blue check on Twitter” (presumably Hotline’s Josh Kraushaar) “saw the initial ad and was outraged and claimed that we had booked Greta Thunberg to be an expert on a coronavirus panel with other health experts.”
Yes, numerous outlets worded her impending appearance as a panelist even though Thunberg could safely be pegged as a solo hit like Alicia Keys and Spike Lee were on past townhalls. But that would have required watching past town halls (like the MRC’s News Analysis Division has), so that’s an inside-baseball point and thus petty for Cooper to harp on it when her very presence was the issue.
Next, Cooper’s snark went up to 12 and facial expressions that betrayed the notion of a serious newsman when he gripped that “Then, of course, Donny Trump Jr. jumped into this, which is weird because I thought he was allegedly running whatever remains of the Trump Organization. I mean, shouldn’t that, like, a really busy job since it's, you know, allegedly such a great big company.”
While decrying online criticism as the work of trolls, Cooper became an actual troll with slights against Trump. He also played the child card on criticism of Thunberg and inadvertently delivered a beatdown to CNN’s current existence (click “expand”):
Anyway, once DJTJ. started typing, then other people with blue checks on Twitter started doing their thing because everyone has to produce content these days. That's what it's all about. It's like a tween on Tik Tok. You've got to produce content, lest you miss on out on a cycle of phony outrage. Then someone who's apparently a reporter at Forbes wrote an article about this alleged controversial booking and the concern about it. And the New York Post today wrote about it as well claiming we were having her on a panel which was what the first person on Twitter was claiming which was made up. It was made up then. It was made up today in the Post.
(….)
Look. I get Donny Trump, Jr. attacking CNN and a 17-year-old Swede. That's like low hanging fruit. It's like paying thousands of dollars to shoot exotic animals on a game farm, you know? It’s easy. And I know Donny Jr. just wants his dad to love him or notice him in a way that's not mocking him, but I just find it fascinating to watch the phony online outrage machine generate content on Twitter based on something that was never real to begin with. It was just kind of surreal to watch it all just kind of play out. In the words of our dear leader, sad.
But, wait! There’s more! Cooper brought Gupta back in and after more jokes about how he wasn’t included in the promotional graphics, Cooper actually said the following: “It just feels weird to watch stuff you're involved with play out in the public sphere and like, this is all just made up. This is really strange.”
Since that’s the opposite of how CNN (under Zucker’s leadership) has functioned in the Trump era, perhaps Cooper should take his talents elsewhere if that’s how he feels.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from May 14, click “expand.”
Coronavirus: Facts and Fears: A CNN Global Town Hall
May 14, 2020
9:37 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: I mean, wouldn't it be better to just, you know, liberate the scientists, allow the scientists to speak and just focus on nuts and bolts issues as opposed to, you know, musing repeatedly out loud in ways that, whether it's this about the soldiers into bullets or, you know, injecting bleach into people in human experiments?
(….)
9:54 p.m. Eastern
COOPER: So, we taped that interview earlier today as I mentioned and I just wanted to take a moment to point out a kind of surreal, absurd drama that played out over the last 24 hours online and amazingly in some reputable news sources. Yesterday, CNN ran an ad with pictures of some of our guests who would be on this two-hour program tonight who you've already seen. Take a look. This is the ad we ran. It's got pictures of Kathleen Seblius, former CDC Director Richard Besser, it’s got a picture of Sanjay -- no picture of me. Okay, but that's okay. That's fine. I don't need another picture of me. And there's a picture of Greta Thunberg. Now, later the ad was updated to include the commissioner of baseball when he confirmed that he indeed would be on this broadcast as well, so that’s the ad that then ran. Apparently, someone with a blue check on Twitter saw the initial ad and was outraged and claimed that we had booked Greta Thunberg to be an expert on a coronavirus panel with other health experts. Then of course, Donny Trump Jr. jumped into this, which is weird because I thought he was allegedly running whatever remains of the Trump Organization. I mean, shouldn’t that, like, a really busy job since it's, you know, allegedly such a great big company. Anyway, once DJTJ. started typing, then other people with blue checks on Twitter started doing their thing because everyone has to produce content these days. That's what it's all about. It's like a tween on Tik Tok. You've got to produce content, lest you miss on out on a cycle of phony outrage. Then someone who's apparently a reporter at Forbes wrote an article about this alleged controversial booking and the concern about it. And the New York Post today wrote about it as well claiming we were having her on a panel which was what the first person on Twitter was claiming which was made up. It was made up then. It was made up today in the Post. And in case you think this is some sort of cover up, look at our past ads for shows. They're exactly the same. We had Alicia Keys a few weeks --- a few weeks ago debuting a video for a song she released for frontline workers. Nobody thought she was on a panel with the FDA Commissioner Hahn, Governor Cuomo, and Jose Andres. No of them were on panels. They were all individual. Look, here's a promo for last week's town hall we had with journalist Laurie Garrett, former Vice President Al Gore, and Spike Lee. No panel. Just interviews and again, no picture of me. Just Sanjay. That's okay. I digress. Look. I get Donny Trump, Jr. attacking CNN and a 17-year-old Swede. That's like low hanging fruit. It's like paying thousands of dollars to shoot exotic animals on a game farm, you know? It’s easy. And I know Donny Jr. just wants his dad to love him or notice him in a way that's not mocking him, but I just find it fascinating to watch the phony online outrage machine generate content on Twitter based on something that was never real to begin with. It was just kind of surreal to watch it all just kind of play out. In the words of our dear leader, sad. Sanjay, yeah. I got that off my chest.
GUPTA: I want a picture of you, actually Anderson. I asked them to put a picture of you on the screen. They refused. I don't know what that was all about.
COOPER: It’s alright, you know? I’ve got no problem. That fine. You know, next contract cycle, maybe I’ll get that in the writing.
GUPTA: Do you feel better now?
COOPER: Yeah, I do. I feel better. It just feels weird to watch stuff ---
GUPTA: Yeah.
COOPER: -- stuff you're involved with play out in the public sphere.
GUPTA: I know.
COOPER: And like, this is all just made up. This is really strange. Anyway, Sanjay, thank you as always.
GUPTA: You got it.
COOPER: 11th --- 11th town hall. Wow. I don’t know if it’s ---
GUPTA: Two more to come, I think.
COOPER: --- a good thing or bad thing that we’re still doing it because ---
GUPTA: I know.
COOPER: --- this is still happening and no end in sight. Sanjay, thank you. I want to say thanks to Rick Bright’s attorney Lisa Banks, Rob Manfred, Neil Browning, and Greta Thunberg. We should also note our invitation to any health expert from the White House Coronavirus Task Force stands for next week's town hall so they have a week to think about it.
