Terry Crews sparred with CNN host Don Lemon Monday night over whether the Black Lives Matter movement was going too far with their campaign against police violence.
The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star was on the show addressing fierce backlash that the actor received over a series of heated tweets amid the protests over the death of George Floyd and other black Americans in police custody.
In the much-criticized posts, Crews, 51, pledged to “unite with good people, no matter the race, creed or ideology” and wrote that he hoped that “#blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter.”
After commenting that Crews had “stepped in it” big time, Lemon, 54, asked him to elaborate on his stance.
“There are some very militant type forces in Black Lives Matter and what I was issuing was a warning,” the outspoken #MeToo activist replied. He added that his experience with different groups allowed him to see how “extremes can really go far and go wild” and urged people not to conflate the “great mantra” of Black Lives Matter with the organization’s fanatical leadership.
Recently, BLM has been criticized for targeting everything from Teddy Roosevelt statues to “Paw Patrol” in the name of racial justice. Crews himself previously took heat for a tweet about “black supremacy.”
Lemon interjected by commenting that even Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement were seen as “extreme” during the 1960s.
“The Expendables” actor then brought up the recent spate of gun violence that claimed the lives of multiple children over the past couple of weeks.
“It’s [the movement] got to be all black lives matter,” he said, adding that “black people need to hold other black people accountable.”
However, Lemon clapped back by saying BLM’s focus is not black-on-black crime. “If you want an all Black Lives Matter movement that talks about gun violence in communities, including black communities, then start that movement,” scolded the CNN Host, analogizing Crews’ statement to asking a cancer group why they aren’t “talking about HIV.”
However, Crews contended that “police brutality is not the only thing they’re [BLM] talking about.”
Lemon countered by saying, “Black Lives Matter is about police brutality and about criminal justice. It’s not about what happens in communities when it comes to crime. People who live near each other, black people, kill each other. Same as whites … it happens in every single neighborhood.”
Needless to say, the inflammatory debate divided social media with some debate spectators feeling that the actor made a fool of himself.
“Man @terrycrews is on @CNN with @donlemon acting like a COMPLETE a–hole,” fumed songwriter Isaac Hayes III. “He is intentionally trying to discredit #blacklivesmatter.”
However, others slammed Lemon for insinuating that black lives only matter when they are taken by police.
“If What Don Lemon say is true about BLM being only about police brutality, then why are they still protesting?” tweeted Diamond and Silk. “We don’t see police killing black lives. It’s black lives killing black lives. Terry Crews has every right to have an opinion and not be bullied out of it!”
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