As NewsBusters predicted Saturday, CNN's Don Lemon has taken a lot of heat for agreeing with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly about what are some of the causes of strife in the black community.
One of Lemon's most outspoken detractor's was MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor who continued her Twitter rant Saturday evening:
Just saw Fruitvale Station. Heard Lemon remarks. There is nothing I can say. Yet.
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 27, 2013
I just have to wonder. Exactly which America does he live in?
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 27, 2013
But if I had a dollar for every turn coat mofo who made it up and out, then cut the rope ladder behind him...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 27, 2013
...they get to thinking that good money, good suits and good manners will make them see you differently...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 27, 2013
I'll tell you what though. If you step to the plate, your behind better be ready to take a pitch...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 27, 2013
The very notion that millions of peace loving, law abiding Black ppl live under constant indictment fueled by MSM is offensive on its face.
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
My feet may grow tired of walking, but they will near be weary of kicking...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
If you want to discuss specific pathologies, specific to a small segment of society, I'm game...
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
So we move from the murder of a Black boy to indicting "Black culture" for his death? And we co-signing? GTFOOHWTBS
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
So, before Hip Hop, before kids wore hoodies and saggy pants, how did we explain their deaths?
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
Single parenting is not the predictor of violence. Poverty disrupts and breaks down social institutions and infrastructure.
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) July 28, 2013
Roland Martin also voiced his displeasure with his former colleague, but for different reasons:
Do y'all know why I'm laughing at the comments by @donlemoncnn? Because Fox News does it again. Their network is setting CNN's agenda.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
What Fox News does is brilliant. They know @cnn and @msnbc will react to a lot they say. Used to happen with Rish Limbaugh all of the time.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
I used to always say to @cnn execs: why are we responding to Fox News? They don't use their precious airtime on us!
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
Seriously, what Roger Ailes does is brilliant. He has the other media players react to his shows, as opposed to focus on their own.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
See, @donlemoncnn affirmed O'Reilly. Did Bill affirm Don, nope? So Fox News gets their big gun lots of airtime on a competitor. Brilliant!
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
I remember when @cnn went all out covering Glenn Beck's DC rally. I said, "WTF? This is a classic radio stunt!" Even Fox didn't go hard.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
I have been told by no less than a half dozen folks at Fox News that they don't give a blip about the other cable channels.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
All they do is execute their game plan. And folks, that's smart. And when the other media uses their airtime on Fox News, Fox cracks up.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
I remember Hannity and the @DailyCaller did a BS story on new Jeremiah Wright tapes. @andersoncooper @ac360 had me Skype in from the train!
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
The tapes were a joke. But guess what? Fox News was dictating the rundown of @andersoncooper @ac360. We should have ignored that mess.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
But again, it's brilliant of Fox News to force their competitors to use airtime on them. Trust me, it ain't reciprocal.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
So what should @donlemoncnn have done? Easy: done his #notalkingpoints segment and not even reference O'Reilly. Let it stand on its own.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 28, 2013
Those familiar with Martin shouldn't be surprised by the absurdity of his remarks.
First, The O'Reilly Factor is the highest rated program on cable news and has been for over a decade. It often quadruples the number of viewers its nearest competitor garners.
As such, O'Reilly doesn't need publicity from a Saturday CNN program that likely few people watched.
Quite the contrary, it was brilliant of Lemon to involve O'Reilly in his commentary for it has brought significantly greater attention to it.
What likely would have been lost on maybe 200,000 viewers has now turned into a social media sensation so much so that Lemon for over an hour has been teasing his upcoming response to the firestorm his comments caused.
It wouldn't surprise me if Lemon currently has twice as many people watching him anchor CNN Newsroom than normal.
NewsBusters of course will report on that if anything new happens.
Stay tuned.
