Chris Cuomo rips St Louis man on TV for pulling gun on BLM protesters, praised for asking the right questions
Mark McCloskey, a St Louis homeowner went viral after a video of him and his wife brandishing weapons in their front yard, as Black Lives Matter protesters marched down their private street. McCloskey, alongside his lawyer Albert Watkins, appeared in a lengthy segment of CNN's prime time show with Chris Cuomo. President Trump retweeted the video featuring the McCloskey, a lawyer, which became the subject of mockery. The ridiculed video shows McCloskey holding an AR-15 from the wrong side as his wife wildly swung a handgun around.
Appearing on the CNN host's show, McCloskey was asked, “How do you feel about becoming the face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement?" inciting an immediate and angry reaction from McCloskey. “First of all, that’s a completely ridiculous statement,” he said. “I’m not the face of anything opposing to Black Lives Matters movement. I was a person scared for my life, protecting my wife, my home, my hearth, my livelihood, I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate. I didn’t care what color they were. I didn’t care what their motivation was. I was frightened. I was assaulted and I was in imminent fear they would run me over, kill me.”
When Cuomo pressed for answers regarding the protesters posing a threat to him or his family, McCloskey responded with "Did anything happen? Yeah. My life has been ruined." He then went on to call it "social intimidation" and "terrorism". Replying to Cuomo on national television, he said “What is the definition of terrorism, to use violence and intimidation, that’s what happened to me. That’s the damage I suffered.” He explained that the protesters came through a gate to walk down his street which is private property. According to him, the protesters said that they wanted the protest to be "disruptive".
Cuomo asked him if McCloskey had any video or proof showing the protesters had trespassed on his property and attempted to break into it and the St Louis lawyer was quick to defend himself. “I’m not going to discuss the level of my private security on national television", he said, while Watkins also quickly intervened. “This is a matter of not just one discussion we should have to have. We shouldn’t have to have this discussion", McCloskey's legal representative said. "Every melanin-challenged old white man like me needs to listen and hear the message, the message of Black Lives Matter. What the second part of this discussion is, and it’s not mutually exclusive, is the rights — constitutional rights — of each and every citizen in this land. They can’t be compromised without recognizing that the message of Black Lives Matter will cease to have any meaning at all.”
Cuomo then asked Watkins why Trump retweeted the video and he refused to answer. Instead, he gave an absurd statement: "I’m not going to speak for the president, in fact, quite frankly, I find it probably an impossibility for anyone to speak for the president. That’s assuming one wants to say the president speaks." To this, Cuomo shot back saying, “I don’t even know what the hell you are talking about", speaking on behalf of the viewers. McCloskey continued to assert that the protesters hadn't been there to protest peacefully against police brutality but to march towards the St Louis mayor's house after she doxxed BLM supports in favor of defunding the police.
“I don’t like that you have been weaponized for political means,” Cuomo said. “You said ‘I didn’t want to come on the show.’ Listen, I think I’m fair. I’m not going to use you as a pawn to advance my own agenda, like the show you just went on.” Again, Watkins interrupted saying, “My client has since the very outset of this publicity made it really, really clear, the last thing he wanted to do. He and his wife are appalled at the prospect of being utilized as a rallying call for people sitting in Barcaloungers with a Confederate flag behind them and a 12-gauge in their hands. My clients have fought for lawyers as three-plus decades for the civil rights of people of color. My clients are completely behind and endorsed the message of BLM,” Watkins said, before contradicting himself. “What they are not capable of doing is embracing the abject utilization of that noble message that we all need to hear over and over and over again as a license to rape, rob, pillage, bowl over all of our rights…”
“That didn’t happen here, by the way,” Cuomo said immediately, to which Watkins replied, “I beg your pardon, when you have a plan and a wife open their property in their home, with a full-on assault occurring by a mob,” Watkins declared. “What full-on assault? They’re walking down the street in front of their house?” Cuomo pointed out, which further rankled the two lawyers. “Chris, you don’t have your facts right,” Watkins declared, while McCloskey said, “Chris, you were not there".
The Twitterverse had mixed reactions to the news segment. Although many praised Cuomo for the way he called out McCloskey, others said he was throwing a full-blown tantrum. "Chris Cuomo is ripping that POS lawyer Mark McCloskey with the AR apart loving this right now", said a user, and another added. "You have to be on HEAVY doses of bleach to think Mccloskey beat Chris Cuomo in this." A user wrote: "I think McCloskey and his attorney are full of shit. Just like all the others, that are white supremacists. They talk a big game until they are called out and they get fired or publicly shamed."
"Chris Cuomo should’ve asked Mark McCloskey if the guns were loaded and if he and his wife intended on using them. Chris didn’t go hard enough. #cuomoprimetime", said a user in a tweet. "I love how Cuomo makes his point for him by asking “Did anything happen to you or your property? one user concurred while another added, "Chris Cuomo is asking all the right questions!" Another impressed viewer said: @ChrisCuomo Excellent interview on CNN just now!! Albert Watkins, @markmccloskey20's attorney, sounded like he was 3 sheets to the wind w/the way he slurred his words. If Mr. McCloskey calls that terrorism I wonder what he calls what happened to George Floyd? Just sayin...". While others lauded him for his support for the cause: @ChrisCuomo just watched you put Mark McCloskey and his Lawyer in their place! #KeepPushing for Justice and the Truth Bro. #BlackLivesMatter."
Some users hadn't been impressed by Cuomo's words, and said he was making a full of himself by looking like a 'child throwing a tantrum'. "Mr. McCloskey is a real man who will do anything to defend his family. @ChrisCuomo will do anything to sell out his manhood for ratings. @CNN," a user commented. "The clap back is so smooth and then my dude just sits back and watches as Cuomo continues to humiliate himself. Mark McClosky is an American hero," said Trump's legal advisor, Jenna Ellis. "Chris Cuomo you’re pathetic. I hope what Mr. McCloskey experienced never happens to your family because God only knows you would let your family die before protecting them. You’ve made that real clear," another user added.