CNN, Alisyn Camerota change tune on whether it’s OK to refer to virus by origin nation: ‘Handy shorthand’

CNN has once again changed its tune when it comes to whether or not it’s acceptable to refer to a virus by its nation of origin.

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, who called COVID-19 the "Wuhan coronavirus" before the mainstream media decided that term was scandalous, claimed Wednesday she didn’t mean to "disparage South Africa" by using a geographic origin to describe a variant of the virus and was simply using "handy shorthand."

Camerota referred to the latest COVID strain as the "South African variant" but "New Day" guest South African Ministerial Advisory Committee co-chair Salim Abdool Karim took exception to her choice of words.

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"Even though the virus in this particular variant was first described in South Africa, it actually might not have even emanated from South Africa. So it’s inappropriate to call it the ‘South African variant,’ it’s better just to call it by its name," Karim said, mirroring comments regularly made to criticize President Trump for calling the coronavirus by its place of origin.

Camerota responded, "You’re right," and blamed her rhetoric on convenience.

"Absolutely, you’re right, I don’t mean to disparage South Africa, it’s just a handy shorthand but I know that doctors don’t like that," Camerota said.

The mainstream media spent months condemning Trump and his supporters for regularly referring to COVID-19 as the Chinese Virus. However, CNN had initially called it the "Wuhan virus" or the "Chinese coronavirus" before it reached the United States. At the time, the Media Research Center produced a video of several CNN anchors and reporters – including Camerota -- referring to it by the names they would eventually denounce.

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Once Trump began calling COVID by nicknames popularized by CNN, the media suddenly shifted its narrative. Last March, then-CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta even insisted Trump's language would "come across to a lot of Americans as smacking of xenophobia" because he said the coronavirus came from a foreign source.

Acosta was blasted as a hypocrite when it was pointed out that he referred to it as the "Wuhan coronavirus" himself only weeks before Trump used similar shorthand.

CNN also published a story in January 2020 headlined, "Disease detectives hunting down more information about 'super spreader' of Wuhan coronavirus," in which the network’s senior medical correspondent used the word "Wuhan" a dozen times.

Weeks later, CNN began reporting that Trump’s rhetoric leads to bigotry against Asian Americans.

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"CNN has determined that that name is both inaccurate and is considered stigmatizing," CNN reported in March 2020.

It appears Camerota didn’t get the memo.

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.