Days after CNN fired Chris Cuomo for abusing his position to help feed information to his sex pest accused brother, it appears that another host, Don Lemon, could become the centre of another journalistic ethics scandal.
Reports indicate that Lemon was pinpointed by Empire star Jussie Smollett who claimed in court that he received texts from the CNN host warning him that police believed Smollett had faked his own attack in February 2019.
Smollett was indicted by a grand jury for staging a racist violent attack on himself and blaming it on Trump supporters.
Witnesses inside the courtroom revealed the details of the testimony:
Smollett testified during investigation he got a text from Don Lemon — saying CPD didn’t believe him
(smollett talking fast here before an objection. Not verbatim.)
He also says he declined to give his phone to CPD in part because earlier he'd gotten a text from Don Lemon "saying he’d gotten a text from CPD saying they don’t believe me."
The Daily Mail reports that the details about Lemon were stricken from the record, writing “Testifying in court on Monday, Smollett, 39, claimed he had been in contact with CNN’s Don Lemon during the early stages of the CPD investigation.”
The report adds that “In a remark that was presented and then struck from the record, he said things began to seem off when he received a text message from Lemon claiming the Chicago police had reached out to him to say they didn’t believe Smollett. “
Don Lemon discussed the case Monday night on his show with CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez (he who uttered the infamous line “fiery but mostly peaceful protests”) but both failed to mention that Lemon’s own name had been brought up by Smollett during the hearing.
The defense has taken Smollett through nearly every single one of the prosecution’s major points in this case. He’s refuted them at almost every turn and maintained his innocence throughout. Now, it’s the prosecution’s time for cross examination.
Lemon is already under scrutiny owing to accusations that he sexually assaulted a man in 2018 in a bar in Long Island.
Dustin Hice claims Lemon “vigorously” rubbed his genitalia, then shoved his hand into Hice’s face, while asking if he liked “p***y or d**k.”
Speaking to Fox News, Hice said that CNN was “a predator protecting machine,” adding “They’re a network rife with predators and perverts.”
Referring to Chris Cuomo’s firing, Hice added “Lemon will have to testify under oath in the near future, but it’s good to see that there’s finally some accountability happening.”
Hice also noted that he has turned down settlement officers, stating “They’ve tried to grind me down, they’ve attempted to intimidate witnesses in my case, they’ve released confidential information about me in attempt to doxx me. They are complicit. This is who they are.”
As far as Cuomo goes, he has decided to attempt to take CNN down with him, suing the network for breach of contract over $18-20 million in lost earnings, and claiming that CNN head Jeff Zucker was completely aware of the information that Cuomo gave his brother, the former New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, regarding his sexual harassment allegations.
CNN responded in a written statement that Cuomo “has made a number of accusations that are patently false,” adding “This reinforces why he was terminated for violating our standards and practices, as well as his lack of candor.”
As Joe Rogan has noted, these propagandists may finally be getting their comeuppance after years of agenda driven bile they have woefully attempted to disguise as legitimate news content.
The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police has asserted that authorities need to stop ‘wasting time’ investigating people being offended on social media, noting that the public is sick of it.
Chief Constable Stephen Watson made the comments during an interview with the Telegraph.
Watson acknowledged that Greater Manchester Police had “become too assiduous at interpreting some of the rules to mean that if anybody at any time for whatever reason is offended, there somehow needs to be a police record.”
“We’ve got ourselves involved in stuff which is just not a policing matter, we’ve wasted our time as a result and we’ve caused people to question whether, frankly, we know what we’re doing,” the senior officer added.
Likely next Prime Minister Liz Truss has also vowed to put a stop to police investigating social media posts.
However, despite the College of Policing issuing guidance that officers need to focus on real crimes and not interfering in “debates on Twitter,” the practice still continues.
As we highlighted yesterday, a British Army veteran was arrested by police in Aldershot for re-posting a meme on Facebook critical of the LGBT community.
51-year-old Darren Brady was placed in handcuffs by Hampshire Police after being told he had caused someone “anxiety” online.
People in the UK are routinely arrested for posting ‘offensive’ tweets and other social media content.
Former police officer James Watts was arrested and given 20 weeks in prison for the ‘crime’ of posting offensive George Floyd memes in private WhatsApp and Facebook group chats.
Meanwhile, car thefts have effectively been legalized in major cities and police say they don’t even have time to investigate two out of three burglaries.