Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly mocked the objectivity of CNN after the network’s Don Lemon declared himself a modern-day Howard Beale who is “mad as hell” at Donald Trump. On Monday night, Lemon lashed out, referencing the 1976 film Oscar-winning film Network: “I feel like Howard Beale. Americans are mad as hell.... How much more can Americans take?”
Lemon then repeated the debunked notion that Trump has called the coronavirus a hoax (he hasn’t): “First, it's a hoax. And then ‘All along I knew it was serious, I knew it was a pandemic.’ How much more -- how many people have to die?”
(As the MRC’s Curtis Houck pointed out, as recently as March 5, CNN held a fancy event called the CNN Experience in front of 250 people. Odd, given CNN’s suggestion that everyone knew the seriousness of corona from the very start.)
After playing a clip of Kellyanne Conway on March 6 calling the virus contained, Lemon returned to his rage-filled comparison to Network: “And now more than 10,000 Americans are dead. That is a fact. A terrible fact. Not an alternative fact. Americans, are you mad as hell? How much more are you going to take?”
Megyn Kelly on Twitter fired off a tweet calling out CNN’s hypocrisy.
Finally, it should be pointed out that Lemon seems to think all Americans are mad as hell. The President still has majority approval for his handling of the coronavirus. So, just who is Lemon talking to?
A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CNN Tonight With Don Lemon
4/6/2020
DON LEMON: I have to -- I'd be honest with you. For the last couple of weeks when I walk into this building I get in front of this camera, I swear I feel like I'm in the movie Network. I feel like Howard Beale. Americans are mad as hell. What are you going to -- how much more can Americans take? Every single day berating people, lying. First, it's a hoax. And then “All along I knew it was serious, I knew it was a pandemic.” How much more -- how many people have to die? The number of people who are sick includes the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is now in intensive care tonight and has turned over power to his foreign secretary.
I've said this before. This virus doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care if you are a world leader. It doesn't care about your politics. It doesn't care what you believe in. But let's not forget it was just one month ago today that Kellyanne Conway said this about testing and whether the coronavirus was being contained.
KELLYANNE CONWAY: The HHS secretary said this morning that we're ramping up, we're ramping up with the commercial labs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why now? Why didn't they do it when it was contained, get ahead of it?
CONWAY: It is being contained. And -- do you not think it's being contained?
LEMON: It's not being contained. Wasn't then. It isn't now. On March 6th, that very day that Kellyanne Conway said the virus is being contained, there were fewer than 20 deaths in this country. And now more than 10,000 Americans are dead. That is a fact. A terrible fact. Not an alternative fact. Americans, are you mad as hell? How much more are you going to take?
