Brian Stelter Responds to Being Called a 'Gender Neutral Potato Head'

Beth Baumann | February 28, 2021 5:20 PM

CNN host Brian Stelter on Saturday dedicated an entire segment of his show to talk about Donald Trump Jr.'s CPAC speech where the younger Trump referred to Stelter as a "gender-neutral Mr. Potato Head."

“If Hasbro really wanted a gender-neutral Mr. Potato Head so badly, they should just slap a picture of CNN’s Brian Stelter on the cover of their next potato," Trump Jr. said in his Friday CPAC speech.

"On Friday, I was about to go to dinner with my kids when Donald Trump Jr. attacked me in his speech at CPAC, something about me looking like a 'gender-neutral potato head.' And then the tweets starting rolling in on my computer, people telling me about Donny Jr. insulting me and I thought of some really cutting responses, some kind of clever ways to reply, some way to go viral," he explained. "But then I stopped. I didn't post anything. It was just another distraction."

According to the CNN host, this was Donald Trump Jr.'s way of baiting him for the "culture war" that, at the end of the day, "doesn't matter."

"The best thing we can do for each other in this world of tweet storms, is refuse to be confused by that noise," Stelter said. "It's to refuse to be distracted. There's too much real news going on. There's no time for potato heads."

CNN's @BrianStelter says he "thought of some really cunning responses" to @DonaldJTrumpJr comparing him to a "gender-neutral Mr. Potato Head," but then he stopped.

"He wanted me to respond. This was just more B.S. fuel for the culture war. And it does not matter." pic.twitter.com/hUrOYs3WCU
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 28, 2021

When Donald Jr. heard about Stelter's comments, he had a simple reply:

LOL https://t.co/yrXnRX90e3
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 28, 2021

If Stelter wasn't upset with what Donald Trump Jr. said, he wouldn't have addressed it on his program, let alone dedicate an entire segment. He can call it a distraction, but the fact that half the country takes him as seriously as a potato says a ton about his so-called "reporting."