Anderson Cooper defends his recent Pam Bondi interview after she calls him out, and the story goes viral. Mr. Cooper, who quizzed Bondi on her tough past stance on matters related to the LGBTI community, was later bashed by the Florida Attorney General, who said that the exchange with the CNN host was “filled with anger.”
Anderson Cooper defended his Pam Bondi interview by explaining that it is his job as a reporter to ask his guests about past comments and stances.
Earlier this week, Cooper, an openly gay journalist on CNN, moved many to tears with some of the touching words he shared while reporting on the 49 members of the LGBTI community, who were killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Mr. Cooper interviewed many mourning family members and friends, and let countless survivors share their heartbreaking stories. The reporter also invited many political figures on the program to share their thoughts on the sad story – one of them was Bondi, a controversial member of the Republican Party, who is the current Attorney General of Florida.
Bondi has been making headlines in the past weeks after it was revealed that she declined to look at close to 22 fraud complaints about Trump University in 2013 after her campaign received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
The interview with Miss Bondi opened with bang, and Cooper asking:
“Do you really think you’re a champion of the gay community?”
A surprised Bondi replied by:
“I’ve never said I don’t like gay people. That’s ridiculous.”
The television host continued to hammer in by pointing to the following fact. In the past, Bondi was on the record saying that same-sex marriage would be harmful to Florida and even pushed a law that made it impossible for members of the LGBT community to get health updates or even be allowed to visit their significant other in case of an attack. Bondi, who was visibly angry, tried to fight back by stating:
“You know what today’s about?, Human beings. Today’s about victims.”
Cooper responded:
“It’s about gay and lesbian victims. It’s just that, I will say I have never seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way until now.”
Following the CNN disaster, Bondi went on WOR’s Len Berman and Todd Schnitt where she revealed that she has received “horrible hatred emails and texts now, based on Anderson’s story.”
She added that the CNN anchor blindsided her in an interview “filled with anger.” Copper was quick to fight back on his show by saying:
“Miss Bondi’s big complaint seems to be that I asked, in the wake of massacre that targeted gay and lesbian citizens, about her new statements about the gay community and about her old ones.”
He explained:
“It’s my job to hold people accountable. And if on Sunday a politician is talking about love and embracing “Our LGBT community,” I don’t think it’s unfair to look at their record and see if they have actually ever spoken that way publicly before. Which I never heard her say. The fact is Attorney General Bondi signed off on a 2014 federal court brief that claimed married gay people would “impose significant public harm.” Harm. She spent hundreds of thousands in taxpayer money, gay and straight taxpayer money, trying to keep gays and lesbians from getting the right to marry.”
Cooper added:
“…there is irony to the fact that Bondi is now championing her effort to help the gay community, including attack survivors, with the very right which allows gay spouses to bury their dead and loved ones which is a right that would not exist if Ms. Bondi had had her way. I think it’s fair to ask her about that.”
Cooper concluded by:
“For the record, my interview was not filled with any anger. I was respectful before the interview, I was respectful during the interview and I was respectful after the interview.”
What are your thoughts on Pam Bondi’s response to this controversy?
