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Jim Acosta refuses to condemn BLM and Antifa violence at CPAC, called 'hack Dem activist' for anti-Trump stance

The CNN anchor was called out for being willing to 'talk about Trump violence and was asked 'why don't you talk about the Democrat violence' in a viral clip from CPAC

CNN anchor Jim Acosta is being slammed online after his refusal to condemn 'Antifa violence'. Acosta was repeatedly asked about the issue by Kaitlin Bennett, who runs the conservative website Liberty Hangout. She asked Acosta multiple times if he would "denounce Antifa by name. Denounce their violence, BLM and Antifa". Bennett called out Acosta for being willing to "talk about Trump violence. Why won't you talk about Democrat violence".

The incident occurred as Acosta was attending the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida on February 26. After about 30 seconds of silence, Acosta replied "Ma'am, I am sorry I've already spoken to you" as he continued to walk away. The clip ends with Acosta asking "You guys know where they put the golden Trump" to which Bennett replied, "You don't ever stop thinking about him do you?"

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The clip, which has since gone viral has many on social media condemning the anchor for his anti-Trump stance. 

Acosta 'harassed' while reporting

A colleague of Acosta's can be heard saying "we are just trying to do our job" as Bennett keeps questioning Acosta. However, undeterred, Bennett replies, "So am I. So leave me alone." The whole clip is about 47 seconds and has already received over 1.2k retweets and 3.7k likes. 

Acosta was reportedly harassed multiple times as he reported from the convention with a crowd surrounding him chanting "CNN sucks". Acosta was also pressed over the lack of coverage around New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, with David Marcus, a correspondent for The Federalist saying "He killed 10,000 people and he’s accused of sexual assault, and you guys want to talk about Ted Cruz." 

In one video, a man can be heard saying "fake news. Jim Acosta is fake news". The CNN anchor can be seen surrounded by many people, violating the social distancing requirements as recommended by the CDC. There are also multiple images of Bennett from the convention without a mask, raising concerns about the spread of Covid-19. However, she dismissed the concerns in a tweet. 

Twitter is not pleased with Accosta

Many Trump supporters took to Twitter to share their displeasure at Acosta's reply. Replying to a tweet about ignoring CNN, one user said, "Good point. They do ignore CNN, but @Acosta was an exceptionally outrageous perpetrator of hate and vicious lies. @Acosta is not a journalist." Another user tweeted "@Acosta is a little b***h if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen!!!, do you really think anyone's going to buy that you've been reporting anything. not that your a journalist anymore. if you've ever been one it's time for real reporters what happened to journalism." 

Accosta then tweeted about the harassment at the venue saying 'I thought they were against cancel culture' and one one user said, "We don't want you canceled, we want you fired because you are bad at your job." One user called Acosta a 'hack', saying, "Acosta u complete HACK - DEM ACTIVIST - what if Trumper said to U after U asked a question - I ALREADY TALKED TO U -" Another said, "About time someone put Jim Acosta in his place."

The controversial CPAC convention is taking place between February 25 and 28 with Trump scheduled to speak on Sunday, February 28. The theme this year is 'America Uncanceled', referring to the common belief that conservatives are being canceled by social media and the press.