'It has nothing to do with black or white': CNN's Don Lemon says equating 'thug' with the n-word is 'bull'
- The CNN anchor debated the term's use in the Waco biker gang shooting versus the Baltimore riots on Tuesday
- While he agreed that African-Americans are treated differently than whites, he says he doesn't believe that the word thug has become a racist term
- Many have pointed out that the bikers have not been labeled as thugs, while the word was widely used to describe the Baltimore rioters
CNN's Don Lemon is fiercely defending the media's coverage of the Waco, Texas biker gang shooting, saying he doesn't think there has been a double standard with the way the suspects have been characterized compared to the rioters in the recent Baltimore riots.
When nine were killed in a biker gang shootout in Waco this weekend, TV reporters and other journalists were immediately critiqued for their apparently more tame descriptions of the 170 men arrested in the violent clash.
Coming on the heels of the unrest in Baltimore, users on social media pointed out that the biker gang members weren't labelled thugs, like the mostly-black looters were in the Freddie Gray riots.
Scroll down for video
Not about race: Don Lemon said he doesn't believe the word thug carries a connotation or race, while debating the word's use in both the Waco, Texas biker gang shooting and the riots in Baltimore
Double standard? CNN commentator Sally Kahn (right) disagreed with Lemon, and said she thought the relatively tame coverage of the biker suspects show a media double standard
On Tuesday, Lemon discussed the issue surrounding the word thug on his show CNN Tonight.
While Lemon, an African American himself, agreed that black people in America are treated differently than whites, he said that he doesn't think the word has anything to do with race.
'On the language part, and on the media double-standard, I think it's bull,' he said. 'Not everyone believes that thug is a new way of saying the N-word.'
That opinion was not shared by CNN commentator Sally Kahn, who was invited to debate the issue after writing an editorial condemning the way the Waco shooting was covered.
In her article, she argued that the media covers killers in different ways, according to their individual race.
Criticism: After the shooting this weekend, some took to Twitter to suggest that the way the bikers found at the scene were treated is evidence that U.S. authorities are racist
Definition: The term thug was used not only by journalists covering the Baltimore riots last month, but by President Obama himself
'When one Muslim person even threatens violence in the United States, it's treated as terrorism of crisis-like proportions.
'As we saw in the case of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, even when black men are the victims of violence, the burden of proof is placed upon them and their families to show that they didn't deserve it.
'When was the last time you saw an incident of a white guy going on a shooting rampage produce calls for soul searching and recrimination on the part of the white male community? Maybe it should,' Kahn wrote.
Lemon went on to say that the word thug has been used several times on his own show to describe the Waco shooters.
Scene: Bikers lay dead by their motorcycles in the parking lot of Twin Peaks Bar and Grill in Waco, Texas, just after midday on Sunday following the deadly gun battle. Some 170 bikers were arrested in connection to the deadly shooting
Kahn hit back at Lemon, saying she believes that reporters have been purposefully using the word, afraid that they will now be labeled racist.
Lemon disagreed, and said for him, the word doesn't conjure any color.
'The first thing that comes to my mind with thug is not a black person - it's Tony Soprano, it's someone who does something bad,' Lemon went on to say.
And he also defended using the word when covering the violence in Baltimore.
'They are thugs! People in Baltimore who rioted and burned down buildings, they were thugs! The people in Waco who shot people are thugs! It has nothing to do with black or white!' he said.
Share this article
He then brought up the many mugshots for the nearly 200 arrested in the Waco shooting, pointing out that 'Not all of these people are white!'
And this isn't the first time that Lemon has expounded on the issue of using the word.
In January 2014, he took time to talk about the word on his program, in response to a video police in Nebraska released of a 2-year-old African-American child cursing on the coaching of a parent. Law enforcement called the video an example of 'the thug cycle'.
Many thought the police department who released the video were racist in their intentions. Lemon said that while that may or may not be the case, people shouldn't be offended by being called a thug if they are acting 'thuggish'.
'If you don't want to be treated like a thug or considered one, then don't act like one,' he said.
Most watched News videos
- Incredible drone footage of Charmouth Beach following the rockfall
- Bishop prays for attacker after being stabbed during church service
- Fashion world bids farewell to Roberto Cavalli
- Crowd chants 'bring him out' outside church where stabber being held
- Incredible drone footage of Charmouth Beach following the rockfall
- Suella Braverman hits back as Brussels Mayor shuts down conference
- 'Tornado' leaves trail destruction knocking over stationary caravan
- Farage praises Brexit as 'right thing to do' after events in Brussels
- Ray Hadley in tears over daughter and mass Bondi Junction killings
- Disco Queen! Lauren Sánchez shows off cute Coachella fit
- Bondi Junction knifeman is seen ordering curry hours before attack
- Nigel Farage accuses police to shut down Conservatism conference
