Don Lemon schools Terry Crews for highlighting Black-on-Black violence amid BLM protests over police brutality
Terry Crews was the subject of controversy after he clashed with CNN reporter Don Lemon in a heated debate over the Black Lives Matter movement and the actor's recent criticisms about black-on-black violence. The 'Brooklyn 99' star has been very vocal on social media following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers but had been slammed over a June 30 tweet that read, "If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology. We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter."
He then followed that up with another tweet on Saturday, July 4, where he wrote, "Are all white people bad? No. Are all black people good? No. Knowing this reality - I stand on my decision to unite with good people, no matter the race, creed or ideology. Given the number of threats against this decision - I also decide to die on this hill."
Appearing on CNN for an interview with Don Lemon on Monday, July 6, Crews defended the tweet after the host asked him why it was so important that he "die on this hill" and said it was a "warning" over "dangerous self-righteousness" that was developing within the BLM movement. "I wanted to bring up the fact that there are some very, very militant type-forces in Black Lives Matter and what I was issuing was a warning," he said. "I've been a part of different groups, I've been a part of different things and you see how extremes can go far. And when you issue a warning and a warning is seen as detrimental to the movement, how can you ever have checks and balances?"
"Someone wants to control the narrative and I viewed it as a very, very dangerous self-righteousness that was developing that really viewed themselves as better," he added.
Crews said that, while the BLM is a "great mantra," he had problems with "the leaders who are responsible for putting these things together" and had threatened to "burn it down" if their demands weren't met. He expressed frustration at receiving threats for wanting to work with white people. "Black people wanting to work with other races are being views as sellouts, they're being called Uncle Toms, you start to understand you're actually being controlled," he shared.
At this point, Lemon intervened and said it was "easy" to paint these movements as extreme before highlighting the example of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
In response, Crews said he did not "want to move from one oppressor to the next" and brought up the topic of black-on-black violence in neighborhoods that are being "held hostage by people, who are literally running [them] with violence and then [claiming] that black lives matter."
Lemon said it was not the time to bring up black-on-black violence because it was not what the BLM movement was about. "The Black Lives Matter movement was started because it was started about police brutality," the CNN host argued. "If you want an All Black Lives Matter movement that talks about gun violence in communities including Black communities, then start that movement with that name."
"If someone started a movement that said 'cancer matters' and then someone comes in and says, 'Why aren't you talking about HIV?' It's not the same thing."