CNN anchor Don Lemon says he doesn't understand why it was necessary for CNN to keep bringing up that Vester Flanagan II—the gunman who killed two Virginia TV journalists Wednesday while they were conducting a live interview—reportedly was gay.
CNN reported that Flanagan had registered domain names for several gay-porn websites. Throughout the day, a few of the network's anchors referenced that story in ways that seemed to suggest that it was evidence of Flanagan's instability, MediaMatters reports.
CNN correspondent Drew Griffin called the information "another disturbing twist" in the shooting story.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer introduced the information during his show with the text "History of Instability" appearing across the screen.
During an interview with Blitzer, Lemon—who is openly gay—called his colleague out about it and argued that he didn't see how Flanagan's sexuality, or that Flanagan registered gay-porn websites, had anything to do with the shooting or the idea that Flanagan was unstable.
"I don't really see the relevance of it," Lemon said. "I don't want to gay-shame him. There's nothing wrong with being gay."
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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