CNN has a growing problem on its hands as its outspoken MAGA pundit Scott Jennings finds himself in serious legal hot water, and as one journalist argued, it is not a problem that they can keep pretending “never happened.”
Earlier this week, Jennings, CNN’s resident Trump-supporting pundit, was sued in a Washington D.C., federal court by Hasan Piker, a popular leftist Twitch streamer whom Republicans have attempted to exploit as an allegedly extremist boogeyman to damage certain Democratic midterm candidates. Piker accused Jennings of defamation, citing an August episode of the former’s radio show in which he said that Piker was “out there calling for Black voters to be lynched.”
Piker is seeking $72.5 million in damages from the clip, which appeared to have been picked up by Jennings’ show after it was shared on social media by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The lawsuit explains how the clip was faked using pieces of three different streams, cutting out the part when Piker said “He said” about the Black voters comment, which showed that he was mocking comments made by someone else.
Writing about the situation for his personal blog, veteran reporter and Mediaite founder Colby Hall noted that the extent of the coverage CNN has given to the lawsuit has been “64 words that [aggregate] Variety’s reporting for the Reliable Sources newsletter” on its website, with no mention of the story on-air.
“CNN has extensively covered Piker for the better part of the last year, often as a progressive problem for Democrats,” Hall explained. “He’s unquestionably become a major political figure, as has Jennings, so the complete lack of coverage of a lawsuit Piker filed against its own contributor is conspicuous at best. I reached out to CNN for comment on why they have not covered a significant story featuring one of their most prominent commentators. They have not replied.”
He added further: “I get it. Jennings is a CNN contributor, not an anchor, and the network pays him for the hours he’s giving click-friendly hot takes. Salem pays him for his radio show and should be held responsible for what it airs. Networks increasingly feature panelists better known from other platforms, where the incentive is to be the most provocative version one can be. Networks get livelier panels, but don’t take responsibility for what the panelists say elsewhere. Television shows are watched, and headlines are clicked… This situation is much harder to dismiss because Jennings isn’t just your run-of-the-mill CNN panelist. The network effectively built a show around him and relies on his point of view for every debate, convention, and major speech. A federal lawsuit accusing one of the network’s most prominent conservatives of inventing a quote is a big deal. Entirely ignoring it on air feels like a failure.”