While CNN banned Outkick founder Clay Travis from appearing on its program in 2017 after he said he “believed in the First Amendment and boobs,” the left-leaning outlet had no issue bringing back legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin after he was caught on a Zoom with colleagues pleasuring himself.
Travis called out CNN Friday, tweeting, “CNN banned me from their network for saying I believed in the first amendment and boobs, but they just rehired a guy caught masturbating on a Zoom call and had him discuss it live on air.”
CNN banned me from their network for saying I believed in the first amendment and boobs, but they just rehired a guy caught masturbating on a Zoom call and had him discuss it live on air. pic.twitter.com/RqRVNjPu1o
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 11, 2021
Toobin took a leave of absence from CNN after it was reported that he was masturbating on video in October 2020. The New Yorker fired him shortly after. Toobin claimed, “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers.”
Toobin appeared on CNN Thursday and spoke with Alisyn Camerota on “CNN Newsroom” on the incident. So long as Toobin apologized and said he is in therapy and doing community service, it seems, the network was happy to have him back.
“I am trying to become the kind of person that people can trust again,” Toobin said.
Travis, a right-leaning commentator, has not been as lucky to receive an invitation. He appeared on CNN in 2017 with host Brooke Baldwin to discuss a conflict between then-President Donald Trump and ESPN commentator Jemele Hill.
Baldwin said, “Of all the different columnists or even magazines, in the wake of Charlottesville, specifically, that have called out the president as racist, why do you think he really took this particular target on, ESPN, and Jemele?”
“[ESPN] said, ‘Look, you can’t have this opinion; it’s too conservative. We’re not going to allow it.’ I think that’s a bad move; I’m a First Amendment absolutist. I believe in only two things completely: the First Amendment and boobs,” Travis added.
Immediately, Baldwin interjected, saying she needed to question him “as a woman anchoring the show.”
Travis defended his words, saying again, “Boobs. Two things that have never let me down in this entire country’s history. The First Amendment and boobs.”
“So those are the only two things I believe in absolutely in the country. So I don’t think Jemele Hill should be fired, but I do think straight up that once you make the decision that you were going to let Curt Schilling go that you have to also make the decision that you’re going to let Jemele Hill go,” he said.
Soon after, it was reported by The Washington Post that “A CNN spokeswoman said Travis would not be invited back on the network’s air.”
CNN will give a platform to someone guilty of public masturbation, but punish other commentators for a perhaps inappropriate, but drastically far less serious offense.
CNN did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment.
Source: The Federalist
