Groups call for action over CNN oral sex crack

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Cooper, Gergen mum on 'tea-bagging' insult

If one racist remark or one fudging of journalistic integrity can cost a reporter his job, some activists are wondering, what about an openly lecherous comment that mocks protesting Americans with a homosexual term for a sex act?

As WND reported, CNN's Anderson Cooper insulted the grass-roots Tea Parties that blanketed the United States this week by making a lewd joke about the protesters.

His exact words, in response to a guest who said Republicans are still searching for a voice to address the nation's economy, were, "It's hard to talk when you're tea-bagging."

The comment parallels the "tea-bagging" term commonly used in the homosexual community to describe a homosexual act in which testicles are inserted in someone's mouth.

Now, some groups are wondering, what will CNN or Cooper do about the insult?

WND contacted CNN, Anderson Cooper and his guest analyst, David Gergen, to ask for comment on the controversy but received no response. Others critical of the comment, however, were quick to condemn it.

Peter LaBarbera, chief of Americans for Truth, who alerted WND even as the comments were being made, points out in a statement that though Cooper hasn't publicly declared his sexuality, he has been an active homosexual advocate, as evidenced by the CNN host's No. 3 ranking in Out Magazine's "50 Most Influencial Gay Men and Women in America."

"He may remain silent on whether he is a homosexual," said LaBarbara, "but his ugly bias and bitterness toward conservatives is out of the closet. If he has any class, he'll apologize to CNN's world audience – and especially all those good people who attended the 'Tea Party' rallies – for his perverted on-air remark denigrating their cause."

Cooper's remark is on YouTube and embedded here:

Mark Dice, founder of the The Resistance, a self-described Christian media watchdog group, has gone a step farther, urging people to demand that Cooper be fired.

"Introducing such a term to the children in the audience and clearly conveying that it has sexual connotations is inappropriate," said Dice in a statement. "It's unfortunate that Anderson Cooper's personal perversions spilled out on the airwaves."

Full story HERE