Actor John Cusack recently tweeted a video montage of MSNBC hosts and commentators attacking Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, along with the hashtag “BoycottMSNBC,” Breitbart reports.
“Be clear MSNBC. You did this to yourself no one made you parade neocons & neoliberal pundits to slander & smear a people’s movement that you KNOW is not radical but a return to FDR politics.”
At one point during the montage, MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews blasts Sanders for “just waving his arms around” while “talking about revolution.” Another clip shows MSNBC anchor and commentator Donny Deutsch suggesting that a socialist candidate is “more dangerous” to the United States than Donald Trump.
Cusack is open about his support of Sanders and left-wing politics, and he’s not the only one that has noted MSNBC’s treatment of Sanders.
Common Dreams suggested that the moderators at MSNBC’s presidential debate last week treated Sanders more like an outsider than a front-runner, tying the alleged treatment to the network’s purported “anti-Bernie slant.”
“During the debate and in the spin room, Sanders was treated more like an outsider than a front runner. It’s part of a broader anti-Bernie slant in the ‘liberal’ network’s coverage,” the report reads.
The report also noted that 40 minutes into the debate, Sanders was clocked by The New York Times as 4th from the bottom in terms of speaking time, with lower-polling candidates like Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, and Cory Booker all getting significantly more time at the same mark.
Sanders was skipped on topics of unaffordable housing, white supremacist terrorism, and voting rights. He was also passed on the topic of racial justice in favor of Elizabeth Warren.
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) previously found MSNBC to be biased against Sanders via skewed polls and false claims about the Vermont Senator. For example, Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd showed a graphic that suggested Sanders decreased 5 points in a Quinnipiac poll when the candidate actually gained 5 points.
Cusack’s attack on MSNBC comes in the wake of Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang publicly calling out the network for their coverage of his campaign and his lack of speaking time in last week’s debate. The move pushed Yang’s supporters to trend the “ BoycottMSNBC ” hashtag to protest what they believe is a concerted effort to silence the 44-year-old serial entrepreneur.
According to Yang, he will not be returning to MSNBC until they issue him a public on-air apology and provide his campaign with coverage consistent with his polling rank.