CNN host W. Kamau Bell speaks at Antifa rally in Berkeley. (Screenshot)
A CNN host spoke to a cheering Antifa crowd at the violent “No Hate in the Bay” rally in Berkeley, California, over the weekend, and now CNN is dodging questions about it.
W. Kamau Bell, who fronts a show on CNN called the “United Shades of America,” grabbed a bullhorn at the rally and bellowed that "when the Nazis leave, as they have left…you have to stand up for the brown people, the black people, the LGBT people, the immigrants–everybody everyday!” The mob roared in approval.
Bell later took to Twitter to describe his experience speaking at the event:
1/of not that many
Today at the #NoHateintheBay rally in Berkeley I was given the chance to speak by @pastormykmac. I wasn't expecting it.
1/of not that many
Today at the #NoHateintheBay rally in Berkeley I was given the chance to speak by @pastormykmac. I wasn't expecting it.
Before I knew it, I was holding the mic. As a comedian you would think I'm always ready to grab the mic. I'm not that kind of comedian.
Before I knew it, I was holding the mic. As a comedian you would think I'm always ready to grab the mic. I'm not that kind of comedian.
I had never used one before. (I almost mentioned it but immediately thought better of it.) I kept going & then I was handed the mic again...
Berkeley shouldn't just come together when the Nazis/KKK kids/Fault Right/white supremacists show up. We should be like this everyday...
The "No Hate" rally was organized in opposition to two conservative groups ("No Marxism in America" and “Patriot Prayer”) that were going to hold rallies that weekend but cancelled out of safety concerns.
The leaders of both groups have denounced neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Violent Antifa protesters chased, harassed, spat on, and viciously assaulted the few conservatives who were in attendance at the rally on Sunday. They attacked journalists as well.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson took CNN to task on his show Thursday night, pointing out that Bell offered encouragement to the black-clad Antifa mob that attacked innocent people for no other reason than that they "might have voted for Donald Trump."
He "calls himself a political provocateur but that doesn't quite capture it," Carlson said. "In fact, he is a supporter of Antifa."
Tucker recounted how the Antifa mob attacked “Patriot Prayer” founder Joey Gibson, a political moderate: "They knocked him off his feet, pepper-sprayed him, smashed him in the head with a pole," he said.
"Last night we talked to man called Keith Campbell. He's not a Nazi, either. He just happened to be standing at the event with a camera. Antifa thugs knocked him to the ground and began pummeling him. They might have killed him if a conscientious liberal hadn't shielded Campbell with his body."
Carlson argued that the reason the two men were attacked was because "they believe in American ideas like free speech and free association." He said antifa doesn't believe in those things and that's why they attacked. "They hate this country. They want to tear it down. They are totalitarian in their beliefs and in their aims," Carlson declared.
None of that mattered to Bell, Carlson said. "He's happy to stand up on stage and call his opponents Nazis. That's not a label you use on people you want to debate. It's a label you use to incite rage."
Carlson pointed out that his program would be cancelled immediately if he spoke at a right-wing version of Bell's rally -- "where right-wingers in masks tried to kill people they disagreed with -- Hillary voters maybe, and then afterward we issued a statement saying we were just working on behalf of whites, Christians, gun owners, taxpayers, maybe even some black people -- especially those who voted Republican. How would that go over? This show would be canceled quickly and it would deserve to be canceled."
"If you're not willing to say you want a world safe for all Americans equally, you are peddling hate, and Bell is," Carlson said, pointing to Bell's written statement after the rally which lauded the causes of "black" and "brown" people in his words.
Carlson said he contacted contacted CNN to see if they had a response to "one of their anchors stoking violent extremism as a side gig," and had gotten no response so far.
He also invited Bell to appear on Tucker Carlson Tonight "to see if he'd be willing to defend what he did. He wasn't."
.@TuckerCarlson: "If you're not willing to say you want a world safe for all Americans equally, you are peddling hate." #Tucker
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