CNN Anchor Don Lemon has been causing quite a stir. We all remember his harsh words directed towards the black community, seemingly blaming them for racism and oppression. If only they’s pull up their pants! ?Now, Don is in very hot water after his interview with a woman who is alleging that Bill Cosby raped her.
Joan Tarshis appeared on Don’s show yesterday to discuss the allegations. At a certain point, the interview took a turn for the worst. ?Don brought up how women will sometimes say they have an infection with the hopes of avoiding sexual intercourse with their attacker. Then Don reminded the guest that she had said ?Bill made her perform oral sex. Ms. Tarshis agreed. What happens next is just disgusting and uncomfortable.
Don Lemon says to her, (the alleged rape survivor), that “there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.”
Excuse me? Wait, what? Don goes on to say that one can use teeth as a weapon. The woman seems to be shocked but haphazardly goes along with Don’s comments but says she didn’t think of anything like that at the time.
My question is: Why is Don Lemon obsessed with victim blaming? As a gay man of color, one would think Don would be very sensitive to victims of?things like racial prejudice/profiling and sexual assault. We have seen though, with people like Dr. Ben Carson for example, how oppressive thoughts can encompass the mind of the oppressed.
The main point here is that women should not have to consider ways to get their rapist to stop. Sure, there are things one could do to protect themselves and if a woman somehow finds a way to escape a sexual assault (mid-assault) then a big congrats to her. However, the focus should definitely be on men and perpetrators. It is far easier?to tell men to not force themselves on others, than to bring up incredulous things like using teeth as a weapon.
Don’s ongoing obsession with proclaiming how victims can create the change in culture, is becoming extremely annoying. With this latest offense, I am questioning how much longer he will be with CNN. Of course, blaming blacks for continued racial profiling and discrimination sits very well with a lot of people-a lot. And while black twitter was up in arms over his comments, I bet a lot of middle America was sitting there like “Yes Don! Tell ’em!” But America is still (as she should be) very uncomfortable with such derogatory and insensitive remarks to a woman who is alleging that she was sexually assaulted.
Don really needs to get it together or he will be off television for a long, long time.
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