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Black Leadership Group: CNN Must Put ‘Own House In Order’ After Don Lemon Said ‘White Men’ Are US’s ‘Biggest Terror Threat’

(Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for The Association of Magazine Media)

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Project 21, a black leadership network, issued a statement Thursday calling on CNN President Jeff Zucker to address host Don Lemon’s inflammatory comments calling white men the “biggest terror threat” in America.

The statement, from Project 21 co-chairs Stacy Washington, Horace Cooper, and Bishop Council Nedd II, reads:

Within a space of five seconds, CNN’s Don Lemon went from saying we shouldn’t demonize people to broadly labeling white men as our nation’s ‘biggest terror threat.’ That’s not responsible journalism. This cannot stand. CNN President Jeff Zucker recently called out the White House for its criticism of the media, saying President Trump doesn’t comprehend the importance of the words he uses. It’s time for Zucker to put his own house in order – starting with explaining how Don Lemon’s outrageous statement can stand in light of Zucker’s call for civility.

Project 21 is a 25-year-old black leadership network sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a “free-market, independent conservative think-tank.”

“So we have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them,” Lemon said on Monday during an appearance on “Chris Cuomo Primetime.”

“There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban on… they had the Muslim ban, there is no white guy ban. What do we do about that?” Lemon continued.

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 12: Don Lemon and Michael Avenatti attend The Hollywood Reporter's Most Powerful People In Media 2018 at The Pool on April 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 12: Don Lemon and Michael Avenatti attend The Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful People In Media 2018 at The Pool on April 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson also criticized Lemon’s comments during a Thursday appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“You know, we have a history of dividing people into different segments and that has caused a lot of problems in the past,” said Carson. “And we’ve paid big prices for that. But let’s don’t (sic) sweep it under the rug. Let’s acknowledge it, but let’s learn from it and move in a positive direction, not a negative direction.” (RELATED: Don Lemon Doubles Down On Claim That White Men Are The Biggest Threat To The US)

Lemon doubled-down on his comments Wednesday night by citing statistics on murders committed by far-right extremists.

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