Radio personality Charlamagne Tha God and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had a heated debate late Thursday evening over how the network has covered former President Donald Trump as opposed to Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Cooper’s show AC360, the intense exchange started when Charlamagne pressed the host on why networks like CNN refused to acknowledge Trump’s fascism but have invested in discussing Harris’ race.
“It’s crazy because you still don’t have news networks having that conversation, like when somebody says, when somebody questions Kamala Harris’ Blackness or is she a DEI hire, you all will have roundtable discussions about that, asking that question,” Charlamagne explained.
He then asked Cooper about this double standard when it comes how CNN covers Trump. “How come we’re not having a roundtable discussion asking is Donald Trump a fascist? Actually not even asking, he’s stating it,” Charlamagne continued.
“How come that is not the topic of discussion on networks like CNN every day?” Cooper defended himself by saying he discusses it almost “every night” on his show. However, Charlamagne wouldn’t let up.
“I feel like I heard more on this network about ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ than I do about Donald Trump being a fascist,” he added. However, Cooper couldn’t bite his tongue any longer.
“Honestly, that’s bull***t. I’m sorry. I’m a fan of yours, but to say that we‘re sitting around discussing ‘Is Kamala Harris Black...” Cooper vehemently replied.
That’s when Charlamagne used a little profanity of his own. “I’ve seen that. I’ve seen roundtable discussions a lot. Now that’s bulls**t, Anderson,” Charlamagne said.
Cooper did concede CNN did have its moments when it came to how Harris was discussed.
“I’m sure we have had nutty people or people who have strongly-held beliefs who I may disagree with who somewhere on some panel have said something,” he admitted.
Toward the end of the argument, Charlamagne concluded that “Nobody’s had an honest conversation about Donald Trump since 2016.” This debates comes less than two weeks from election day.
Last week, Charlamagne held a Town Hall with Harris in which the pair agreed that Trump was a fascist.