Adan Salazar
Don Lemon implies rape could have been avoided
CNN anchor Don Lemon took an audacious tact last night when he asked one of Bill Cosby’s alleged rape victims if she ever considered biting the acclaimed actor in the penis instead of getting raped.
In a cringe-worthy interview with Cosby rape accuser Joan Tarshis, a straight-faced Lemon stated, “You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.”
After the distasteful comment, which he ironically prefaced with “I don’t mean to be crude,” the anchor elaborates that he is specifically referring to “using of the teeth” and “biting.”
Here’s a transcript of Lemon’s interview via Gawker:
Lemon: Can I ask you this? And please, I don’t mean to be crude, OK?
Tarshis: Yeah.
Lemon: You said this last night, that he — you lied to him and said, “I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you do — if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife.”
Tarshis: Right.
Lemon: You said he made you perform oral sex.
Tarshis: Right.
Lemon: You — you know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.
Tarshis: I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have.
Lemon: Right. Meaning the using of the teeth, right?
Tarshis: Yes…I didn’t even think of it.
Lemon: Biting.
Tarshis: Ouch.
Lemon: Yes. I had to ask.
“CNN’s Don Lemon might as well have asked Joan Tarshis, ‘Did you try not getting raped by Bill Cosby?’” quipped Gawker’s Rich Juzwiak.
Lemon’s useless after-the-fact suggestion earned him tremendous disdain in the Twitter-verse, where the court of public opinion essentially ruled him a hack.
Who gave #DonLemon his job? They should take it back.
— Nay Lay Strum (@naylaystrum) November 19, 2014
Don Lemon seemingly believes that teeth can shut down that whole rape thing — Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) November 19, 2014
Imagine saying what @donlemon said to a victim & then seriously putting the onus on everyone else for thinking it was insensitive — Ramss (@bananarams) November 19, 2014
Don Lemon is a flipping moron, honestly. Re:Cosby
— Carl Sagan (@kNeely) November 19, 2014
Disgusting @donlemon. Unfortunately, I am not surprised that he would say something like this.
— Cat (@catherine_lisa) November 19, 2014
Somebody tell Don lemon his job is to report the news not become the news. — Jeremy Rowley (@Jeremy_Rowley) November 19, 2014
Don Lemon should report his own firing as his only unbiased and accurate account of journalism. #DonLemonReporting — Stacey Lubliner (@StaceyLub) November 19, 2014
Time to start changing the channel when @donlemon comes on my TV
— Andrew Robert Scott (@andrewrobscott) November 19, 2014
How does Don Lemon still have a job at CNN??? HE needs to go!!!
— R (@HappyGrand7) November 19, 2014
Following the grotesque anti-rape tip, users started the hashtag #DonLemonReporting where they imagined what Lemon might say in various circumstances.
“Yes, but the Hindenburg could have just turned left, did anyone think to turn left?” #DonLemonReporting — Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 19, 2014
When Germany invaded Poland, what was Poland wearing? Was it drunk? Was it begging for it? #DonLemonReporting — JRehling (@JRehling) November 19, 2014
Wait. RT @joepardavila: Why did JFK drive down that road in Dallas? You’re telling me there were no other streets? #donlemonreporting
— T (@ILuvKaraoke) November 19, 2014
.@donlemon dick-bites his way out of a rape live on CNN just to show all of us women how easy it is to not get raped #DonLemonReporting
— LeeAnnMcAdoo (@LeeAnnMcAdoo) November 19, 2014
.@donlemon dick-bites his way out of a rape live on CNN just to show all of us women how easy it is to not get raped #DonLemonReporting — LeeAnnMcAdoo (@LeeAnnMcAdoo) November 19, 2014
#donlemonreporting To Ray Rice’s wife: The stairs.. Seriously. Ever consider taking the stairs? Would have saved everyone a lot of hooey. — EG Collins™ (@EGCollins) November 19, 2014
If homeless people don’t like their lifestyle, why don’t they just get a house? #donlemonreporting
— Todd (@stlouis0) November 19, 2014
If blacks would have never gotten on those ships, this could have all been avoided. #DonLemonReporting pic.twitter.com/2ws7UuCfut
— Wilkine Brutus (@wilkinebrutus) November 19, 2014
Ma’am, if you’d just given the Empire the location of the rebel base, wouldn’t your planet still be here today? #DonLemonReporting — Brian Gaar (@briangaar) November 19, 2014
Lemon’s awkward line of questioning is just another example of why viewers are fleeing the sinking Cable News Network ship in droves. A shocking report last November found that establishment media networks CNN and MSNBC both shed about half of their total viewers compared to the previous year. The network’s viewership was also dismal during the recent midterm elections, where Fox News, CBS, NBC and ABC all beat out the cable news relic. And just last week, the network’s prime time Monday night slot sank to a historic rantings low, with less than 185,000 people tuning in, “the lowest for the time period since at least Oct. 1, 1991,” according to TVNewser. With “reporting” of this caliber, it’s no wonder cable provider Dish Network has opted to drop CNN from their channel lineup, stating it is “not a top 10 network anymore. Unless they find the Malaysian plane.” Lemon has since issued an apology for his actions. With CNN already in a ratings death spiral, the embattled anchor is merely treading water on a sinking
Don Lemon is why I don’t watch CNN. The man is a pathetic joke. #donlemonreporting — icebergslim (@icebergslim1047) November 19, 2014
