Discussing white supremacists in Charlottesville, CNN's Ken Cuccinelli tells CNN’s Symone Sanders to shut up
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the August 14 edition of CNN’s New Day:
CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): Symone’s argument is basically that you know what white supremacists are about, you know what Robert E. Lee evokes. That's what they use for the basis for coming to gather. What is your point of disagreement exactly?
KEN CUCCINELLI: Right. Well, my point of disagreement is that that was an excuse to bring these groups together. The local blogger who got the permit to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue then blew this up. That was an excuse.
SANDERS: And now someone's dead.
CUCCINELLI: Look at even how they got the permit. And can I finish, Simone? Will you just shut up for a minute and let me finish?
SANDERS: Pardon me, sir.
CUOMO: Easy, Ken.
CUCCINELLI: Bless America.
SANDERS: You don't get to tell me to shut up on national television.
CUOMO: Hold on.
[CROSSTALK]
SANDERS: I'm sorry. Under no circumstances do you get to speak to me in that matter. You should exhibit some decorum. And understand that you were trying to defend and excuse white supremacy on this program. And under no circumstances will I sit by while that happens. So you can shut up.
CUCCINELLI: And so then all these [nationalists], all these racists come in, all these neo-Nazis come in from all over the country, and they absolutely blew this whole thing. And so now we end up with violence. [untintelligible] --
CUOMO: Ken, stay civil. Hold on guys. Both of you stop for a second. Simone, Ken? Simone? Ken and Simone, hold on a second. You need a reset. You need a reset. Ken, you don't want to use language like that when you're talking to Simone. You can disagree but don't talk like this on this show. You know better than that, Ken.
[CROSSTALK]
SANDERS: Not talking to me, he doesn’t.
CUCCINELLI: Hey Chris, I keep getting interrupted. I keep getting interrupted. Eventually I got to stand up for myself.
CUOMO: I know, but Ken, we don't tell people to shut up on this show. I know, but Ken, you can stand up for yourself and still be civil. That’s not how you are.
CUCCINELLI: Then how you make them stop talking when they keep interrupting you?
SANDERS: They? I’m sitting right here.
CUOMO: You let me do your job, I’ll give you both chances. Simone, I apologize for that. We don't talk to people like that on this show. And Ken, I know you, you don't talk to people like that, and I know you don’t mean to insult somebody like that on this show. Would you like to say that for yourself?
CUCCINELLI: Of course not, but I can't just be walked over for over and over and over.
Previously:
How Donald Trump emboldened Charlottesville white supremacists