Don Lemon’s role in the protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Minnesota church has drawn both praise and criticism. It has also brought Lemon under fire from a variety of MAGA sources, and the journalist is responding to homophobic attacks and threats of prosecution.
Lemon puts Nicki Minaj on blast for homophobic remarks
As Blavity reported, the criticisms aimed at Lemon include a homophobic attack Nicki Minaj posted on social media, along with her thought that Lemon should go to jail. Minaj later doubled down on her comment. Again using the homophobic slur, Minaj said she “purposely wrote it that way” to get people to post about her comment.
“I’m glad they’re angry. They’re about to get angrier,” Minaj wrote with a Chucky doll meme.
Lemon responded to the insult, saying in a video, “Nicki Minaj, stop talking about s**t for which you know nothing about. This is out of your depth.” Lemon went in on Minaj, saying, “You are a homophobic bigot. You don’t care about African Americans, and you’re not an African American.” Lemon referenced the sex offender statuses of Minaj’s husband and brother, as well as rumors about Minaj’s immigration status, saying, “And you have nerve to talk about me and what you think that I do? Nicki Minaj, get a life. Stop being a pick-me.” He also called on gay people and Black people to stop buying her music.
Lemon was threatened with prosecution
In addition to Minaj’s attacks, Lemon has also faced legal threats from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump reposted a post that called for Lemon to be “given 40 years in prison for violating the FACE Act,” the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act against obstructing or interfering with reproductive health facilities or places of worship.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon indicated in an interview on Monday that the Department of Justice would pursue criminal charges against Lemon. She mentioned the FACE Act and also suggested that she could pursue charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act, a law from the 1870s that has been used not only against the KKK but against other conspiracies to violate others’ civil rights.
Lemon responded to the suggestion that he could be charged under the KKK Act, saying that he had been falsely portrayed as leading the Sunday church demonstration when he was merely reporting on it after being informed that a notable protest was occurring that day. He also said that he didn’t know in advance that the protesters were going to a church, but also noted the protesters’ claims that a pastor at the church was affiliated with ICE.
Sunday’s church protest has proven to be a political lightning rod, drawing strong opinions from across the political spectrum, including conservative outrage aimed at Don Lemon and the protestors. With everyone from Nicki Minaj to Trump and the Department of Justice going after him, Lemon spent Monday fending off attacks. The threat of legal charges means that the journalist may not be done defending himself.
