On Monday's CNN Tonight, during a discussion of Kanye West going on a tear against liberals at a Saturday Night Live taping, host Don Lemon denied that there is a "90 percent liberal bias" in the news media, and accused conservative contributor Steve Cortes of "not being honest" in his defense of West.
When Cortes had his turn to speak, he complained that Lemon had derided West's complaints as a "rant" and noted his double standard in not criticizing Hollywood liberals who use platforms to promote their political agenda. Lemon bristled as he jumped in:
So that point you're wrong because in order not to be a rant, right, it would have to make sense. What he said did not make sense. He kept throwing up topic after topic.
When Cortes jumped in to argue that West did make sense, Lemon claimed that his guest had not heard the entire speech, although Cortes informed him that he had in fact listened to it all. The CNN host soon jumped in again:
If you think Saturday Night Live is the left and they're intolerant, then why did they invite him there? Do you think they're stupid -- they don't know what Kanye is going to do...
After Lemon went on a bit longer, Cortes finally asked: "Don, did you invite me here to answer questions or just to talk to me?"
The CNN host responded: "No, I invited you here to tell the truth, and you're not being honest."
After Cortes argued that West was correct in much of his comments, including that there is a 90 percent bias toward the left in the media, Lemon dismissivly responded: "Is that a scientific mathematical fact about 90 percent?" (The press has certainly been 90 percent negative when it comes to coverage of Donald Trump.)
A bit earlier, after conservative contributor Alice Stewart referred to the liberal bias in Hollywood, Lemon was similarly dismissive as he commented that "there are plenty of conservatives in Hollywood."
