NFL great Herschel Walker is calling for CNN to take host Don Lemon ‘off the air’ for the racist names that Lemon and his guests called rapper Kanye West, after his visit with President Donald Trump at the White House last week.
The former NFL running back jumped to his Twitter account to slam CNN and suggest that Lemon be taken off the air, the Washington Times reported.
“Went to bed appalled over Don Lemon despicable behavior laughing at Tara Setmayer and Bakari Sellers awful remarks about Kanye West’s visit with Donald Trump!,” Walker tweeted on October 11. “Woke up wondering why CNN doesn’t take all three off the air?
#SHAMEFUL #CNN.”
Walker’s criticism stems from a broadcast of Lemon’s CNN “news” show where he sat by laughing as commentators Bakari Sellers and Tara Setmayer attacked Kanye West over his support for President Trump. During the segment Sellers angrily insisted that “Kanye West is what happens when Negroes don’t read,” and called him stupid while Setmayer called the singer a “token negro.” Throughout, Lemon sat idly by giggling like a school girl and egging his unruly guests on.
For her part, Setmayer slapped right back at Walker saying, “Bless your heart… You want to silence me because I expressed a different opinion than yours? Because I called out Kanye for what he is? Uninformed! I’m an actual conservative, who’s worked on policy advancing those principles for 20-plus years. I’ll never be a shill for Trump.”
But Walker wasn’t having any of Setmayer’s condescension.
“No…Tara Setmayer, anyone that is African American with an opinion different than yours, you want to call them out by using the N-word, and Don Lemon is laughing? To me that’s bullying and shameful,” he replied.
Walker has long been a supporter of President Trump since first joining the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, a team Trump then owned. Walker was also named co-chair ofTrump’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition this year. The former Dallas Cowboys player ad two-time Pro Bowl champ has supported Republicans for years.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.