This is absolutely insane.
Former President Donald Trump is taking flack for the most unlikely event: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Annual Academy Awards.
The former President is being blamed by CNN for the viral moment that saw Smith charging on stage and slapping Rock in the face after the comedian jokes about the actor’s wife.
Although the incident startled the crowd, the show wasn’t derailed, with Smith going on to win the Best Actor award.
The remarks made by CNN’s Asha Rangappa determined that Trump was the reason the crowd was relatively unfazed by the shocking incident.
Taking to Twitter, Rangappa asked, “So did like anyone walk out after that happened??? Or are we getting an independent psychological case study on how Trump got normalized?”
Quickly after she published the tweet, Rangappa’s statements drew ridicule for blaming Trump.
Rangappa’s statements reflect CNN’s shift from a non-partisan network to a liberal, anti-Trump network under former boss Jeff Zucker, who had to resign from his role at CNN after a consensual affair with a colleague.
Yet, things are expected to change at the network with incoming boss Chris Licht directing the network back to an only-the-facts style of reporting that the network’s founder, Ted Turner intended.
This isn’t the first time Rangappa’s comments have drawn criticism. As one of the network’s more outspoken liberals, Rangappa was mocked last year when she compared a Southwest pilot to an ISIS sympathizer. The pilot drew Rangappa’s ire for signing off his announcement to passengers with “Let’s go Brandon,” according to claims by an Associated Press journalist who was on the flight.
In her tweet, Rangappa suggested that a Southwest pilot say “Long live ISIS” as an experiment, saying that this statement would cause the flight to be grounded, the pilot to be fired, and Southwest to issue a statement.
