People Are Legit Shook After Powerfully Responsible Lemon/Cuomo Segment on Columbus Police Shooting

If I had simply read the transcript of what transpired between CNN “Tonight” anchor Don Lemon and the network’s “Prime Time” host Chris Cuomo Wednesday night without knowing the names of the participants, I would not have guessed that it was the two of them who put on what was inarguably one of the most powerfully responsible discussions yet surrounding the officer-involved shooting death of Ma’Khia Bryant.

As we previously reported, there were a lot of predictable knee-jerk and, quite frankly, dumb reactions to the Tuesday shooting from many of the Usual Suspects on the left and in the mainstream media.

But Lemon and Cuomo, shockingly enough, were not among them. During the nightly sendoff between their programs, Lemon first talked about how the Ohio case was “tough, it is really, really, really tough.” Then Cuomo, who had previously talked about how people shouldn’t jump to conclusions on the Bryant shooting on his own program, then told viewers why neither he nor Lemon rushed to judge initial reports on what happened as so many others had:

“And the initial reports didn’t seem right, and it was so interesting for me as emotional and personal as the stories are, as someone of color especially Don, you with your background. You are cautious about it, you are saying huh, I want to see this one, I want to see this. Because there’s a lot of emotion, understandably so you get a 16-year- old kid that’s gone.”

While Lemon confirmed the situation was indeed emotional, he also said something I’ve never heard him say – that it was important to be fair and honest in describing what was happening when police arrived onto the scene:

“…. but we’ve got to be fair about what happens when police arrived at scenes.

It is tragic that it’s a 16-year-old girl, just it is tragic that it’s a 13-year-old in Chicago. When police are chasing people, they don’t know how old they are. And they don’t run and say how old are you, I’m 13, you know? My mom let me but you don’t know that. Or I’m 16. When they roll up on the scene, they see people tussling around, someone has a knife and their job is to protect and serve.

Every life on that scene, and if they see someone who is in the process of taking a life, what is that decision — what decision that do they have to make? And I know that people say well, you know, you could do this you could do that. Tasers don’t work the way guns work.”

What followed was a refreshingly frank exchange about what happened, the position the police were put in, and how their reaction — while the end result was the death of a teenager — was one where they had no choice. Watch the clips below, courtesy of Newsbusters news analyst Nick Fondacaro:

CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon were surprisingly reasonable tonight when discussing the Columbus police shooting.
“They roll up on the scene, they see people tussling around. Someone has a knife. And their job is to protect and serve,” Lemon said. pic.twitter.com/2jRsBf49Sp

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021

Imagining if the world-be stabbing victim was someone close to him, Lemon added: “Do you protect the life of the person trying to take the life, or do you protect the life of the person who’s life is in imminent danger at that point.”
He also notes how fast everything happened. pic.twitter.com/Cs0XNexzAP

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021

For Cuomo’s part, he demanded to know where the parents were the whole time, with the father running out and kicking a woman on the ground.”What were they doing? Why didn’t he stop it? Why did the police have to come and control that situation?” pic.twitter.com/i4Cikrx0I9

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021

Finally, Cuomo and Lemon were in agreement: the officer “has a duty.”
“A duty to use force to protect his own life or the life of another,” Cuomo said. pic.twitter.com/lp7DAX1y1H

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 22, 2021

Longtime critics of Cuomo and Lemon were pleasantly surprised at their back and forth, and said so on the Twitter machine (my comments will follow):

Don Lemon handled the Columbus shooting more responsibly than the Biden White House pic.twitter.com/uHpG84Cdm7

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) April 22, 2021

I’ve been going after the press all day and I’m not exactly Don Lemon’s biggest fan, but serious kudos for him taking a responsible stand here. It’s insane that this stands out today because so many others have been so irresponsible. https://t.co/ZMNoahqLf8

— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 22, 2021

I think CNN is trash, but after watching the clips below I’ll give credit to both Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon for acknowledging the facts instead of trying to ignore the fact that the officer was acting to protect the life of another. https://t.co/Ii1YgaQZGs

— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) April 22, 2021

I’m one of those media critics who doesn’t hand out cookies to media figures for simply doing the jobs they are supposed to do (responsible reporting) rather than stirring the pot and fanning the flames just for clicks and RTs and views. But I also know that there are many in the media (including Lemon, Cuomo, and others at CNN) who have irresponsibly gaslit readers and viewers for months about the violent Antifa/BLM-led anti-police riots to the point where honest conversations about the situations police often find themselves in are considered borderline heresy.

That simply has to change, and the change first starts with the people who engage in the gaslighting the most. The dialogue around officer-involved deaths in this country has got to cool down, the rhetoric less heated and accusatorial. Because not only do bad decisions oftentimes stem from it, but those decisions can have the disastrous effect of leaving vulnerable communities even more unsafe and also leaving officers demoralized. That exact situation has played out with precision in Minneapolis, which saw a 21% rise in violent crime last year.

As crazy as it sounds, if it takes Lemon and Cuomo being the voices of reason to cut through and shut down some of the inflammatory and insane commentary we’re seeing from many on the left on this topic, I’ll take it. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to say something stupid or irresponsible the next day, but I’m willing to give a little credit here if it means the beginning of a much-needed shift in tone on officer-involved shootings.