CNN's Don Lemon Defends Antifa Despite Violence: 'No Organization Is Perfect' (Video)

CNN host Don Lemon used part of his two-hour program earlier this week to defend Antifa despite growing criticism toward the organization over violent protests it precipitated in Charlottesville and Washington D.C. earlier this month.

“It says it right in the name: Antifa, anti-fascism, which was what they were there fighting,” said Lemon while explaining his position.

“Listen, no organization is perfect. There was some violence. No one condones violence” he added. “But there were different reasons for Antifa and for these neo-Nazis to be there. One, racists, fascists, the other group, fighting racist fascists. There is a distinction there.”

Also Read: Chris Cuomo Defends Antifa After Violence: 'Not to Be Judged the Same as the Bigots'

The remarks were similar to an Antifa defense given by Lemon’s primetime colleague Chris Cuomo a few weeks ago.

“It’s not about being right in the eyes of the law, but you also have to know what’s right and wrong in a moral and a good and evil sense,” said Cuomo. “That’s why people who show up to fight against bigots are not to be judged the same as the bigots, even if they do resort to the same kinds of petty violence. The law will take care of that.”

The defense from CNN — which bills itself as the non-partisan alternative to MSNBC and Fox News — did not delve at much length into any of the actual cases of violence that have been documented.

Also Read: Don Lemon on Trump's 'Dumbest Man' Tweet: 'This President Traffics in Racism'

Reporters on the ground in Washington and Charlottesville reported that Antifa protesters hurled eggs at them and in one case, harassed an entire MSNBC news crew.

When Vox editor Jennifer Williams wrote a piece that documented the violence, she said that she received a torrent of public abuse on Twitter and that the emails were even worse.

“The number of emails I’ve gotten in response to this piece from Antifa supporters telling me that journalists and cops are legitimate targets because we’re tools of fascism is really astounding,”

https://twitter.com/jenn_ruth/status/1029156939337543681

Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)

Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.
Advice on Choking Women

Before gaining fame as a Trump superfan, Cernovich got his start in the men's rights and pick-up artist community. His advice column, published on his blog "Danger and Play," included suggestions on the proper way to "choke" women during sex. This entry from December 2011 has since been deleted: "Choking works because it’s a show of dominance. Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them."
Pizzagate

Cernovich first came to wide public attention over his promotion of a conspiracy theory during the 2016 election that suggested that a pedophile ring was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The story was bunk, and Cernovich has moved to distance himself from Pizzagate.
Will Sommer/Twitter
John Conyers

Cernovich's biggest score of all probably wasn't James Gunn, but John Conyers. A tip provided by Cernovich to BuzzFeed about accusations of sexual misconduct forced the Democrat to resign his seat in disgrace in December 2017.
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Sam Seder

Mike Cernovich targeted the MSNBC contributor over a years-old joke about his daughter being raped. MSNBC dropped Seder in December 2017, but reinstated him after a public backlash.
MSNBC
Sopan Deb

Cernovich went after New York Times reporter Sopan Deb in March 2017 over a tweeted pun about the rapper Bow Wow. The incident earned Deb an official rebuke from the Times' then-public editor, Liz Spayd.
Josh Barro

In November 2017, Cernovich demanded an apology from Josh Barro after the Business Insider Senior Editor made fun of his lisp. Barro swiftly retreated.
Twitter
Perry Fein

In June 2018, Los Angeles Times freelancer Perry Fein slipped into Cernovich's DMs and wished harm upon him. His relationship with the newspaper was over just hours later.
Los Angeles Times Media Group
James Gunn

Last week, Cernovich helped lead an online campaign highlighting old tweets in which Gunn joked about rape about pedophilia. Gunn offered an apology, but was dropped by Disney from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise.
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Cheri Jacobus

Before the James Gunn situation, Cernovich also led a brief and successful campaign to pressure USA Today to drop columnist Cheri Jacobus. The decision from the paper came after Jacobus' bizarre comments about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Ian Black

Cernovich has trained his fire on comedian Michael Ian Black, who has said several times on Twitter that his tweets about pedophilia were only jokes.
YouTube
Dan Harmon

Fresh off his victory in ousting Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy," Cernovich forced "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon and his employers at Adult Swim to apologize over an old sketch that featured Harmon graphically simulating the rape of a baby. (The sketch used a doll, not an actual baby.)
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The right-wing provocateur has become a thorn to liberals online

Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.

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Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)

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