Don Lemon Condemns Megyn Kelly’s Recent Comments On Blackface
Reporter Don Lemon doesn’t buy Megyn Kelly’s recent defense of the use of blackface, Huffington Post is reporting. Kelly sparked outrage after she questioned the controversy over those who have painted their face darker to imitate someone who has a different skin color on her show Megyn Kelly Today on Tuesday, October 23.
“When I was a kid, that was OK, so long as you were dressing up in character,” Kelly said.
Kelly faced immediate backlash over the statement and quickly released an apology, explaining that “friends and colleagues” personally educated her on the history of blackface and the implications of participating in it. Lemon, however, doesn’t believe that Kelly grew up in a time period when the act was acceptable like she claimed. He expressed his opinion on her comments to CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
“How much time do you have Chris?” Lemon asked when the topic was brought up. “Sometimes you say stupid things when you’re live, but I’m just going to be honest.”
“Megyn is 47 years old, she’s our age. There has never been a time in that 47 years that blackface has been acceptable,” said Lemon. “I think people really need to educate themselves about this particular issue, and we need to realize in this culture that some people do have a privilege where they don’t have to think about it.”
Lemon went on to question whether Kelly truly had “diversity” on her staff. If she had, Lemon believes someone on her team would have pointed out the offensiveness of Kelly’s views to her beforehand. Lemon also got riled up yesterday on air when discussing Donald Trump’s recent statement that he was a “nationalist,” Huffington Post is reporting. He discussed how the title was often used by the alt-right and that the term was “loaded with nativist and racial undertones.”
"Megyn is 47 years old, she's our age, there has never been a time in her 47 years that blackface has been acceptable" @DonLemon on #CuomoPrimeTime pic.twitter.com/aihmlQ0VOd
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) October 24, 2018
The CNN Tonight host is known to not mince words and has said things about the current U.S. president that had the press buzzing, such as when he signed off on his show in January saying, “This is CNN Tonight, I’m Don Lemon. The President of the United States is racist.”
As a black man himself, Lemon often discusses racial issues on his program. He also tackles topics regarding sexuality and officially came out as a gay man after releasing his memoir Transparent in 2011. As for Kelly, she has been known to advocate for more conservative viewpoints. While both reporters don’t typically go back on their opinions, Kelly has reportedly re-evaluated her stance this time around.
