CNN host Don Lemon said members of the media should treat Republican guests like they have a responsibility to answer for the “dangerous” actions of their party.
Lemon’s comments came during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” with hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar. The fellow CNN host took part in the show to address how the media should approach conservatives following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
He said Republicans could not “expect to be coddled” when they speak to large audiences of potential voters.
“But speaking very soberly about the realities of America and American politics right now. We sit around and we talk about these things and we want to give this false equivalence to Democrats and Republicans,” Lemon said.
According to Lemon that is not consistent with where America is as a country and journalists need to remember that “Republicans are doing something that is very dangerous to our society. … We have to acknowledge that as Americans. We must acknowledge that as journalists because if we don’t we are not doing our jobs.”
The CNN host said that Republicans need to answer for issues like the revocation of federal abortion protections if they appear on CNN, or any other media outlet.
Watch the video below:
Bitter Don Lemon lashes out on-air seemingly against new CNN boss Chris Licht as the "people who are in charge of what we…the American press puts out" and decries the desire to treat GOP fairly.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 14, 2022
"Republicans are doing something that is very dangerous to our society," he sneers. pic.twitter.com/jRr7Grz9Q6
During the course of his comments, the host of “Don Lemon Tonight” cited his Wednesday interview with former Oath Keepers spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove.
Van Tatenhove encouraged Americans to find common ground and not give in to political extremist divisions during the interview, according to Mediaite.
The CNN host called the experience “surreal” and went on to encourage his fellow members of the media to make sure Republicans are not treated the same as Democrats.
Lemon echoed the same sentiment last month, also while speaking on “New Day,” when he praised how journalists have changed in the past few decades.
The CNN host said he believes journalists are now “standing up for democracy,” according to Fox News.
Lemon said that the freedom to “state [his] truth” and “stand up for what is right” as a journalist on television was of incredible importance.
The CNN host did acknowledge that reporters must be “factual” but argued that they could not portray the two major political parties in this country as equal.
“There is one party, right now, that is not operating in fact. That has been misleading the American people and that is the Republican Party, sadly, which I used to be a member of,” Lemon said, according to Fox.
