Last updated on April 16th, 2013 at 10:34 pm
Days after Ted Nugent threatened violence and launched a racist attack against the president, CNN rewarded him with an interview to discuss gun policy.
Rmuse described Nugent’s threats of violence and use of racism against President Obama in a recent NRA News interview, “‘That is so indicative of how callous and disconnected some are, because you are talking about arbitrary, punitive, capricious draconian felonies,’ and that the federal government was engaging in ‘freedom-stomping and jack-booted thuggery.’ Then Nugent went off the rails and lashed out at President Obama calling him a ‘Chicago gangster, ACORN rip-off scam-artist-in-chief’ who was the real radical and asked ‘when I kick the door down to the enemy’s camp, would you help me shoot somebody? Just help me clear the room.'”
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CNN’s Erin Burnett tweeted this announcement today:
Tonight: @tednugent is #outfront – we’ll talk guns
— Erin Burnett (@ErinBurnett) April 11, 2013
Instead of condemning his comments, CNN decided to reward Nugent with air time, so that he could talk “gun policy.” Since Nugent is an NRA board member, everyone already knows/knew that this “interview” would be nothing more than NRA propaganda segment disguised as news.
Like the rest of CNN’s lineup, Erin Burnett’s show is doing poorly in the ratings. However, there is something especially distasteful about Burnett and her network giving Ted Nugent a national platform on which to spew his conspiracy theories and racism.
Even though Jeff Zucker is in charge now, CNN is still desperately courting Fox News’ right wing audience. Trying to pass off Ted Nugent as a gun policy expert is irresponsible, but hosting Nugent after his latest racist attack on President Obama is disgraceful.
Until CNN realizes that hosting racist conspiracy theorists like Ted Nugent is a disservice to their audience, they don’t deserve your viewership.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
