CNN’s Don Lemon is making headlines and sparking Twitter outrage following an interview with a woman who says she was raped by Bill Cosby. Joan Tarshis was 19 years old when she was allegedly “drugged and raped” by the comedian.
Tarshis was discussing being forced to perform oral sex on Cosby when Lemon said, “You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.”
‘”I was kind of stoned at the time and, quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have,” Tarshis replied. Lemon responded with, “Meaning the using of the teeth as a weapon, right?” He continued by saying simply, “biting” to drive home the point.
Tarshis, who appeared to handle the bizarre exchange fairly well, responded by saying, “ouch.”
See the full video and Twitter reaction after the jump.
Twitter exploded with reactions to Lemon’s comments, here are a few of the hundreds of comments:
Don Lemon to Rosa Parks, “So you couldn’t have caught a cab instead?”
— Vision (@VisionPoet) November 19, 2014
“Why didn’t you fight back?” Is a violent thing to ask of a rape victim. It’s triggering and it’s victim blaming! How dare you don lemon?? — Nicole Froio (@NicoleFroio) November 19, 2014
So. Don Lemon REALLY said that? Even for him…I’m still shocked. Disgusted and just plain angry. — RICHELLE CAREY (@RichelleCarey) November 19, 2014
I don’t even know what to say about that Don Lemon remark on rape. The exchange is reprehensible, but he identifies as a survivor himself.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) November 19, 2014
The amount of think pieces to be written about Don Lemon later on today God bless.
— Lord Almighty (@Sixfever) November 19, 2014
When life hands you lemons, Don Lemon blames you for taking them. #DonLemonReporting
— Paul Myers (@pulmyears) November 19, 2014
As the anger over his Qs to a Cosby accuser picks up steam. Don Lemon would be wise to as quickly as possible apologize.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) November 19, 2014
“Did you ever consider washing your hands more often?” – Don Lemon to Ebola patients.
— Sara Salim (@sarasalim) November 19, 2014
This Don Lemon thing….I can’t. I can’t muster up outrage anymore. Just sadness. Profound sadness.
— Kari Bentley-Quinn (@inflammatorywrt) November 19, 2014
That Don Lemon interview is infuriating. I need to take a walk and not talk to anyone for days kind of infuriating.
— FogARTPOP (@FoGaGarty) November 19, 2014
watching that don lemon clip made my face look like i just bit into a lemon
— C.J. (@cj_prin) November 19, 2014
I’ve heard that if you poke a shark in the eye, you’ll deter an attack. How much different is a shark from a rapist? #DonLemonReporting
— Sexy Soolie (@TheSpoony) November 19, 2014
“You know if President Kennedy had put the top up, he might not have gotten shot. Just saying…” #DonLemonReporting
— Mo Fei Chen (@DynaMoChen) November 19, 2014
why didn’t the earth just move instead of getting hit by a meteorite and making the dinosaurs extinct? #DonLemonReporting
— Patrick (@denmark98) November 19, 2014
But why didn’t JFK just duck? Did he even realize he could have just ducked? #DonLemonReporting
— Tim Eastman (@TimBEastman) November 19, 2014
You know, if these prostitutes didn't live in London, maybe Jack The Ripper wouldn't have ritually slaughtered them. #DonLemonReporting
— Adam Mordecai (@advodude) November 19, 2014
#donlemonreporting To Ray Rice's wife: The stairs.. Seriously. Ever consider taking the stairs? Would have saved everyone a lot of hooey.
— EG Collins™ (@EGCollins) November 19, 2014