Here’s a story from last night’s GOP convention that Republicans could no doubt live without as they make their pitch to the American public this week. CNN reports:
“Two people were removed from the Republican National Convention Tuesday after they threw nuts at an African-American CNN camera operator and said, ‘This is how we feed animals.’
“Multiple witnesses observed the exchange and RNC security and police immediately removed the two people from the Tampa Bay Times Forum.”
The cable news network isn’t giving the story a lot of play this morning, and only posted an item on it after Talking Points Memo first reported the news last night. Nonetheless, it is probably worth pointing out that the CNN post makes no effort to soften its lede with “allegedly” or anything similar.
The official statements coming from RNC organizers and the CNN brass last night provide only vague details of what happened.
Convention organizers: “Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
And CNN’s statement: “CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.”
The first account of the incident, unsurprisingly, came via Twitter in the form of a tweet from former MSNBC and Current anchor David Shuster: “GOP attendee ejected for throwing nuts at African American CNN camera woman + saying ‘This is how we feed animals.’”
