CNN’s Don Lemon faced backlash from conservatives this week after he claimed on his program that white men are the “biggest terror threat in this country.” But rather than apologize, the host addressed the criticisms and doubled down on his accusation, saying the “evidence is overwhelming.”
"Earlier this week, I made some comments about that in a conversation with Chris [Cuomo],” Lemon said. “I said that the biggest terror threat in this country comes from radicals on the far right, primarily white men. That angered some people. But let’s put emotion aside and look at the cold hard facts. The evidence is overwhelming."
Lemon then referred to a Government Accountability Office report that says since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, right-wing extremists have killed 106 people in 62 different attacks in U.S., while Islamist extremists have killed 119 people in 23 different attacks.
Lemon cited another story that showed "that for every eight deadly attacks by right-wing extremists," there was one by left-wing extremists. (The Hill)
“So people who were angered about what I said are missing the entire point,” he said. “We don’t need to worry about people who are thousands of miles away. The biggest threats are homegrown. The facts prove that.”
On Tuesday, Lemon also said “we have to start doing something about them,” referring to white men.
Don Lemon: “I keep trying to point out to people not to demonize any one group or any one ethnicity.”
— CRTV (@CRTV) October 31, 2018
Don Lemon literally seconds later: ": "We have to... realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men."pic.twitter.com/M8ffxbiUjO