Viral Video: Charles Blow Calls Trump a ‘Bigot’ and Diversity Chair ‘Part of the Bigotry’

‘You Have to Decide Whether You Want to Be Part of the Sexism and Misogyny That Is Donald Trump’

CNN Contributor and New York Times opinion columnist Charles M. Blow is being heralded after calling Donald Trump a “bigot” and Trump’s National Diversity Coalition chairman Bruce Levell “part of the bigotry itself.”

Blow appeared on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon Monday. A video posted by Media Matters to Facebook Tuesday morning of the exchange between the CNN contributor and Levell has gone viral, garnering nearly 1.5 million views.

“Here’s the deal,” Blow, carefully choosing his words, begins. “Donald Trump is a bigot. There’s no other way to get around it.”

“Wow,” Levell interjects. 

“Anybody who accepts that,” he said, “supports it. Anybody who supports it is promoting it — and that makes you part of the bigotry itself. Now you have to decide whether or not you want to be part of the bigotry that is Donald Trump.”

“You have to decide whether you want to be part of the sexism and misogyny that is Donald Trump. You have to decide whether you want to be part of the bullying that would allow him to make fun of one of my disabled colleagues at The New York Times. You have to decide that. There is no other space for you. There is no place for you to say, ‘I’m going to put that to the side because I believe in conservative principles.’”

“You have to make a decision because your party has now decided that this is your person. This con man is your front man. And you have to decide whether you’re going to follow that.”

Short on time, Lemon allows Levell to respond.

“Well, Charles, I’m sorry you can’t answer the question,” Levells says – he had asked Blow to “Name one statement that you’ve heard Donald Trump say about African-Americans.”

“I don’t know you,” Blow responded. “And I don’t want to talk to you. And I don’t want to answer your questions,” Blow, defiant, continued.

Levell then implied that Blow was an arm of the Hillary Clinton campaign, which he is not.

“I’m not part of the Clinton campaign,” Blow retorted. “I’m a black man in America. And I know a bigot when I see a bigot. And you are supporting a bigot. And that makes you part of the bigotry that is Donald Trump.”

“A bigot is a bigot,” Blow continued. “You’re supporting a bigot. That makes you part of the bigotry. And you are part of the problem that Black America faces. What Black people don’t need is not somebody to solve our problems like we are some sort of algebraic equation.”

After a heated exchange, Blow concludes, “I called him a bigot and I called you a supporter of that bigotry, and therefore part of that bigotry. And you are part of what [is] the problem with African-Americans. Yes. I said that to you.”

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