CNN Segment On Anti-Semite Sparks Backlash

A CNN segment on a white nationalist's comments supporting Trump and condemning "Jewish interests" sparked ire on social media today thanks to screenshots like this one:

 

Here is the segment. That chryon. These times. pic.twitter.com/5vXn5GM7ll

— Colin Jones (@colinjones) November 21, 2016

The "alt-right leader" referred to in the chyron is Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank. Video of Spencer's comments at a conference Saturday showed him suggesting that mainstream media had been critical of  Trump "in order to protect Jewish interests."

"One wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem," Spencer told the crowd.

On CNN's The Lead, host Jim Sciutto asked Rebecca Berg of Real Clear Politics and Matt Viser of the Boston Globe whether Trump should be expected to publicly denounce comments like these. Sciutto, Berg, and Viser all vigorously condemned the comments and suggested that if Trump were to address these types of comments, it would only act to legitimize bigots. Still, it was not long before screenshots of the clip circulated like wildfire.

I love that CNN still won't call them Neo Nazis. "Are Jews people," asks fun, fresh-faced organization. https://t.co/6Iz67JfIcI

— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) November 21, 2016

"Are Jews People? Ideas Differ on this Controversial Question" - CNN, basically.

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) November 21, 2016

Or are Jews dancer? https://t.co/LF3T8VeI5Q

— (((Gabe Rosenberg))) (@GabrielJR) November 22, 2016

Pro tip @CNN - if they ask "are Jews people" then you can stop calling them "alt-right" and start calling them Nazis.

— John Paul Davis (@youngkingrabbit) November 21, 2016

 

Viser, the deputy Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, found himself forced to clarify that he was not the alt-right leader posing the question:

To be clear: I believe Jews are people (I’m also not the alt-right founder referenced on the chyron) https://t.co/G6E7sy6eFT

— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 21, 2016