Scott Jennings, one of CNN’s go-to conservative commentators, gave an equivocating response on-air Monday night when asked to react to several racist and offensive remarks speakers spewed at a Donald Trump rally in New York City on Sunday.
During a segment on his “360” news panel show, host Anderson Cooper introduced footage of inflammatory moments from the Madison Square Garden rally, including a clip of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Cooper asked Jennings to share his thoughts about the event: “You worked in the Bush/Cheney White House, your close ally [is] Sen. Mitch McConnell — none of them would come within 100 miles of this stuff. Does it make you sad that this is what a Republican rally sounds like a week before the election?”
“Yeah, I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit,” Jennings responded. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend like it’s good or helpful.” He criticized the rally’s hate-filled rhetoric as “stupid,” “a distraction” and “offensive.”
But he then turned the issue on Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming the Democratic nominee also has supporters from the “entertainment industry” who’ve said “vile and offensive things in the context of politics.”
“Not all them were at her rallies, but if you look at some of the lyrics and other production that they’ve done, it is terrible, violent and offensive,” he said. “So if we’re all going to professionally faint tonight, I would just say let’s maybe do it on both sides of the line,” he continued, before Cooper interjected.
“Was that introducing her at a rally?” the CNN host asked.
“I said, it’s not all been done, it’s not all been done at any of her events,” Jennings said.
“Right, but has it been done at any of her events?” Cooper pressed.
“Some of her people, that are her most ardent supporters, have said things about women and domestic violence, and the treatment of women and other issues, that are truly beyond the pale,” Jennings charged. “I do think when you’re in the entertainment industry, you get edgy, and this is what you get when you put them at a political rally.”
Jennings did not name the Harris supporters he was referring to, nor did he specify what “violent and offensive” lyrics or remarks he’d meant.
ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images
The CNN pundit was criticized on X, formerly Twitter, for deflecting from the topic of Trump’s rally.
“Make that fraud Scott Jennings give ONE EXAMPLE of anyone at Harris’ rallies demeaning entire races, cultures, and countries,” one X user wrote. “He cannot because he is a liar just like Trump. FIRE HIM NOW!”
Hinchcliffe has come under fire for his wildly racist performance at the Sunday rally.
During his set, he leaned on stereotypes about Latinos, saying they “love making babies,” and made several xenophobic statements.
He made an anti-Black joke about Black people carving “watermelons” instead of pumpkins for Halloween, and he referenced Trump’s false, racist claims about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Hinchcliffe also referenced Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and made a derogatory comment about Palestinians throwing rocks. He also made an antisemitic joke about Jewish people being obsessed with money.
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The right-wing comedian was not the only speaker who made such blatantly racist statements on Sunday. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, “Palestinians are taught to kill us at 2 years old,” and senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller said at one point, “America is for Americans and for Americans only.”
Trump has downplayed the severity of those comments. Speaking from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump praised his New York City rally calling it a “lovefest.”
“That was love in the room, and it was love for our country,” he said.