Don Lemon downplays Democrat calling Tim Scott a racial slur as 'name-calling'

On CNN's "New Day" on Friday, Don Lemon appeared to downplay a Texas Democrat's use of the racial slur "oreo" to describe Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., referring to it as merely "name-calling" and reasoning that many Black Americans are probably calling the Republican the same thing in the privacy of their own homes.

Lamar County Democratic Party chair Gary O’Connor called Scott the demeaning name in a now-deleted Facebook post last week, before he apologized and resigned shortly after. The Lamar County Democratic Party, in defense of the lawmaker, said in a statement they would not accept O'Connor's resignation.

"Obviously you don't need the name calling," Lemon, the host of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon," argued on Friday.

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Asked for a definition from "New Day" co-anchor Briana Keilar, Lemon explained that an "oreo" is someone who is "Black on the outside and he's White on the inside," before noting Sen. Scott is often criticized by Black people because of his political party identification.

"So I think that has to do with how you stand on social issues, issues that affect African-Americans, if you are voting against your own interest, if you are upholding a party that has been...trafficking in racism, an insurrectionist party, a party that's trying to restrict the voting rights for people who look like you," Lemon said.

That's when Lemon suggested that Black Americans are using the same term about Sen. Scott at their kitchen tables.

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"So African Americans understand what he's saying," Lemon said of O'Connor. "I don't think that they would agree that he should be saying it that way, especially publicly. Now I'm going to be honest, maybe if you're sitting around the kitchen table and you're Black and you're with other Black people, they may say the same thing. Like, 'what is wrong with this you know what,' the term that he used. But I don't think it should be used publicly."

Lemon went on to say that there are better ways to hold Sen. Scott "accountable" for his actions as a Republican "if he is voting against the interest of his own people."

"That," he argued, "is something that's valid and should be talked about."

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Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon was among those who condemned O'Connor's use of a racial slur to describe the Black Republican, referring to it as "KKK 101" in multiple interviews on Friday.

Sen. Scott, the only Black Republican senator in Congress, has spoken candidly about how progressives have cruelly referred to him as an "Uncle Tim" since he began his political career, including in the aftermath of his Republican rebuttal to President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, when he said that America is decidedly not a racist country.