IN THE STREETS & ON THE WEB

Talib Kweli Goes Off On CNN's Don Lemon About Coverage Of Ferguson Riots

A discussion on the issues in Ferguson, Mo. between Brooklyn-born rapper Talib Kweli and CNN host Don Lemon devolved into a seven-minute conversation on etiquette Thursday in an embarrassing interview.

Lemon had the 38-year-old Brooklynite, who has a well-documented history as an activist and frequently raps about social issues, on live television to discuss his decision to come support the protests in the St. Louis suburb following the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, 18.

“I love Twitter,” Kweli said in the interview, “but it doesn’t have an effect without bodies on the ground.”
The interview goes along well for about another 30 seconds, as Kweli describes his reasons for coming to Ferguson.

“I felt like it was up to me to be here and control the narrative because the media’s done a horrible job of making sure the stories get out in the right way,” he said.

That’s where Lemon takes exception to the rapper and begins to defend CNN’s coverage of the unrest.

Kweli, though, says CNN is at the root of the problem, as he points to an article on the cable network’s homepage, “Ferguson streets were calm until bottles fly,” that Kweli claims is inaccurate.

“I was right there,” Kweli says of the incident described in the article.

But as he tries to finish his point, Lemon interrupts him, irking Kweli as they go back and forth about whose turn it is to talk.

“If I can’t talk, we don’t have to have an interview,” Kweli says as he makes to walk off the street-side Ferguson outdoor set.

They seem to finally get back on the same page — until Kweli takes offense at another Lemon comment about having a conversation.

“I would listen to you if you had the decency to greet me — to greet me!” Kweli says.

“I invited you to come on CNN,” Lemon replies.

“You didn’t invite me,” Kweli shoots back. “Nicole invited me, first of all. You didn’t even say nothing to me, you were on your phone the whole time. You asked how to pronounce my name — you have no respect for who I am.”

Kweli finally gets time to finish his point, and recalls the night when police chased down “men, women and children” after bottles were thrown. But Kweli says it was police who agitated the protestors by putting on riot gear and aiming guns at demonstrators.

Lemon continues to try and defend CNN — and himself — as he explains that he was on his phone because he’s busy. But the childish back and forth has clearly gotten out of hand because the men speak about etiquette rather than the issues in Ferguson.

By the end, the two spend some 90 seconds speaking about what happened in Ferguson out of a seven-minute interview.

“Are we good?” Lemon says as he offers a hand to the rapper.
“We good,” says Kweli. “Emotions are running high, but we good.”

The two share an uncomfortable laugh as the network entered a commercial break.

Kweli later followed with a series of tweets about the interview.

“For those who saw me on CNN saying Lemon didn't greet me I only raised that point to counter the fact he said he invited me,” he wrote in the first. “He did not.”