Following the shootings that took place at three Atlanta-area massage parlors, which the mainstream media has framed as a hate crime against Asian-Americans despite the ongoing investigation, Lemon attempted to chant for harmony during the primetime handoff with his CNN colleague Chris Cuomo.
“We’ve been dealing with these topics of race and bigotry and unconscious bias a lot lately and we need to do something about it,” Lemon said.
“You know what I’ll do about it? All of the hate- all of it directed to minorities, directed at others, do you know what it makes me do? Makes me love you more, D-Lemon,” Cuomo told his colleague.
“I love you, brother. I love you,” Lemon responded. “More relationships like this so that we treat people as humans, we see the humanity in each other and not as some other and demonizing other people.”
Don Lemon, who said, anyone who ever supported Trump or wore a MAGA hat was a racist, a white supremacist, and a Nazi, claimed he and Fredo never demonize people.
“We treat people as humans and we see the humanity in each other and not as some other and demonizing people.” pic.twitter.com/Jm40Km88tm— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 18, 2021
Lemon, however, hasn’t always expressed “Kumbaya” rhetoric, especially towards Trump supporters.
Throughout the past year, the “CNN Tonight” host has held no punches against those who supported President Trump during the 2020 election cycle. In October, he admitted he severed ties with friends who backed the president and compared them to drug addicts who “have to hit rock bottom” in order to get help.
In August, Lemon insisted that Trump supporters suffered from “cognitive dissonance” to vote for someone the anchor described as a “bad person.”
Last January, Lemon laughed hysterically as two of his guests mocked Trump supporters as illiterate “credulous rubes.”
The arrogance, the dismissiveness, the smug cackling, the accents.
If Donald Trump wins re-election this year, I’ll remember this brief CNN segment late one Saturday night in January as the perfect encapsulation for why it happened. pic.twitter.com/8kQ6zN9AZV
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) January 28, 2020
Even after the election, the CNN anchor continued his attacks towards the 74 million people who cast their vote for Trump.
“Stop staying that we must respect Trump supporters who believe bulls— because it’s bulls— that you’ve been feeding them!” Lemon exclaimed to GOP lawmakers who were challenging the results of the 2020 election.
Following the Capitol riot, Lemon also suggested anyone who supported the president was “on the side” of Nazis and the Klan.