March 25, 2020
Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah was reporting on a statewide emergency enacted by California Governor Gavin Newsom when some random person walked up and called her a racial slur while setting up for the day’s coverage.
During question and answer with Jake Tapper, the CNN news anchor brought up the incident.
“We’ve been hearing about all these horrific instances of anti-Asian discrimination, racism and xenophobia because of the coronavirus because it originated in China. You and I talked about this. You said it was OK for me to bring it up, you had an unsettling encounter today while out reporting on this story,” stated Tapper.
“I think its been since elementary school. I haven’t heard it directly to my face. “It’s something you see on social media frequently, especially if you’re an Asian American reporter. We were standing there preparing for a live shot this morning just hours ago, and a man walked up using a racial slur. I was so surprised, so taken aback that I asked him to repeat it because I couldn’t believe it,” replied Lah.
“So it is something that’s happening and what I find most surprising is that its happening in front of our faces, directly at people. That is something that I have not experienced in a very long time,” continued Lah.
Mr. Tapper expressed his sympathies after hearing Lah’s story. “I’m so sorry you experienced that,” he said. “I would just like to note that if you are stupid and racist enough to be holding random individuals of Asian descent responsible for a pandemic, you should be self-quarantining from society.”
Jake Tapper of CNN has a reputation for being even-handed, unlike many of his colleagues. Back in early 2017, an MTV writer named Ira Madison III tweeted an insult at Senator Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General. Senator Sessions was holding onto his granddaughter who is half Asian (Sessions’ daughter is married to a Chinese-American) “Sessions, sir, kindly return this Asian baby to the Toys “R” Us you stole her from.” Accusing Sessions of bringing his granddaughter to mask the fact he’s racist.”
Jake Tapper responded as follows
Feature Image via CNN