Hours after CBS Mornings elevated deceased violent shoplifter Banko Brown as a pillar of the San Francisco community for “helping black transgender youth,” the CBS Evening News spent part of their Wednesday report whining that Walgreens security guard Michael Earl Wayne Anthony “misgendered” Brown, who was biologically female, when giving his statement to police.
Leading into the segment, anchor Norah O’Donnell touted the “[p]rotests today in San Francisco following the district attorney's decision to not file charges in the shooting death of a suspected shoplifter by a Walgreens security guard.”
Much like correspondent Nancy Chen did in the morning, correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti gave a signal boost to the outrage at the decline to file murder charges over the facts of the incident:
VIGLIOTTI: The death of 24-year-old Banko Brown is the latest incident in a city blinded by images of shoplifting and petty theft. Protesters called the shooting death murder.
PROTESTERS: Justice for Banko Brown! Filed the charges right now!
VIGLIOTTI: The district attorney says it was self-defense and is not filing charges.
CBS was very intent on painting Anthony as guilty, even chopping up his testimony to police.
Vigliotti told viewers that “[p]olice recovered snacks, totaling less than $15” from the bag Brown was trying to escape from the store with. As if to show Anthony knew he had done something wrong, he followed up with this soundbite from Anthony’s testimony: “There was nothing, you know, worth fighting for.”
Throughout the report, Vigliotti unscientifically kept referring to Brown with he/him pronouns when she was, in fact, biologically female. And according to Vigliotti, ‘misgendering’ was Anthony’s other major transgression:
VIGLIOTTI: Brown, a transgender man, was misgendered by Anthony during his interview with police.
ANTHONY: The whole time we were wrestling, she was saying that she was going to stab me. And that’s what really put the fear in my heart.
The video portion of the report concluded with Vigliotti speaking with Banko’s father, Terry Brown, who was demanding Anthony be put in prison for killing his “son”:
BROWN: It was clear that he shot her for no reason.
VIGLIOTTI: Tonight, Banko Brown's father Terry is asking for justice.
What does justice look like?
BROWN: I want him to go to jail. I want him to be accountable for beating my son, for shooting him. That’s not right. That is not right.
Despite playing the soundbite of Anthony telling police in the interview that Brown was threatening to stab him, Vigliotti claimed, without evidence, that he reneged on that description. “And Brown was found unarmed while the security guard initially believed he was going to be stabbed, he later told police in an interview, it appeared Brown was trying to spit on him,” he told O’Donnell.
CBS’s complaint that a violent shoplifter was misgendered was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Tylenol and Ashley. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
May 17, 2023
6:40:57 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Protests today in San Francisco following the district attorney's decision to not file charges in the shooting death of a suspected shoplifter by a Walgreens security guard. CBS's Jonathan Vigliotti reports the D.A. said the totality of the evidence supports the guard’s claim of self-defense.
[Cuts to video]
JONATHAN VIGLIOTTI: The death of 24-year-old Banko Brown is the latest incident in a city blinded by images of shoplifting and petty theft. Protesters called the shooting death murder.
PROTESTERS: Justice for Banko Brown! Filed the charges right now!
VIGLIOTTI: The district attorney says it was self-defense and is not filing charges.
BROOKE JENKINS (D-San Francisco district attorney): I understand the reaction, as human beings, that many of us who have seen that video now had. I shared in that reaction. But, as I said, as a prosecutor, I could not stop there.
VIGLIOTTI: The surveillance footage released by the D.A. shows Brown with a bag of unpaid items in his hand exiting Walgreens. 33-year-old security guard Michael Earl Wayne Anthony blocks Brown, shoves him, then punches him several times before knocking him to the ground. The fighting continues until Brown grabs the bag and heads to the exit before turning toward Anthony, who then fires a single shot. Brown died in the hospital. Police recovered snacks, totaling less than $15.
MICHAEL EARL WAYNE ANTHONY: There was nothing, you know, worth fighting for.
VIGLIOTTI: Brown, a transgender man, was misgendered by Anthony during his interview with police.
ANTHONY: The whole time we were wrestling, she was saying that she was going to stab me. And that’s what really put the fear in my heart.
VIGLIOTTI: Shoplifting is a consistent issue in cities like San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, and New York.
TERRY BROWN (Banko Brown’s father): It was clear that he shot her for no reason.
VIGLIOTTI: Tonight, Banko Brown's father Terry is asking for justice.
What does justice look like?
BROWN: I want him to go to jail. I want him to be accountable for beating my son, for shooting him. That’s not right. That is not right.
[Cuts back to live]
VIGLIOTTI: And Brown was found unarmed while the security guard initially believed he was going to be stabbed, he later told police in an interview, it appeared Brown was trying to spit on him, Norah.
O’DONNELL: Jonathan Vigliotti, thank you.
