Yes, you thought you had seen everything on television. But that’s because you probably underestimate CNN’s capacity for hard-hitting news, for cutting through the fat and getting to (excuse the pun) the meat of the story.
That is arguably what the network’s Don Lemon was doing Tuesday evening, when he interviewed Joan Tarshis, the woman who recently went public with an accusation that comedian Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1969.
Admittedly it is a tough interview — after all there is the real possibility the woman may be a victim of rape — and an interviewer needs to take a light hand, to approach the topic with the sensitivity it deserves. Not Lemon, though. During their exchange, he questioned Tarshis on why she didn’t bite Cosby where it counts when he forced her to perform oral sex.
Here is the transcript. The video follows:
Lemon: Can I ask you this, because, and, and please, I don’t mean to be crude, ok?
Tarshis: Yeah.
Lemon: Because I know some of you — you said this last night, that he — you lied to him and said “I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you do — if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife.”
Tarshis: Right.
Lemon: And you said he made you perform oral sex.
Tarshis: Right.
Lemon: You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.
Tarshis: Oh. Um, I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have.
Lemon: Right. Meaning the using of the teeth, right?
Tarshis: Yes, that’s what I’m thinking you’re —
Lemon: As a weapon.
Tarshis: Yeah, I didn’t even think of it.
Lemon: Biting. So —
Tarshis: Ouch.
Lemon: Yes. I had to ask. I mean, it is, yeah.
Tarshis: Yes. No, it didn’t cross my mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePGsuPj7-3c
Perhaps the best commentary on Lemon’s interview techniques are those found on Twitter under the hashtag #donlemonreporting. Here are a few of the funnier tweets that fit that description:
Why didn’t those kindergarteners at Sandyhook just shoot back? #DonLemonReporting
— Rabid Turducken (@rabidbadger) November 19, 2014
9/11 would never have happened if those towers had just gotten out of the way of the planes. #DonLemonReporting — Alex Halpern (@HalpernAlex) November 19, 2014
Wait. RT @joepardavila: Why did JFK drive down that road in Dallas? You’re telling me there were no other streets? #donlemonreporting
— T (@ILuvKaraoke) November 19, 2014
“I dont know why you think my idea that Poland could have ‘just moved’ in 1939 is so absurd.” #DonLemonReporting — Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 19, 2014
Cross-posted at The Lid
