Leftist CNN pundit Bakari Sellers and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary sparred over congressional redistricting in a heated debate Monday night, with Sellers telling the millionaire investor, “Don’t be a d–k.”
During CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip,” the two battled over the GOP’s push for redistricting of congressional maps after the Supreme Court cleared the path for Alabama to eliminate one of two largely black districts ahead of November’s midterm elections.
“I think everybody should take confidence in the fact the Supreme Court basically supported one vote, one person, guaranteed in perpetuity, and the rest is just map wars,” O’Leary said. “At the end of the day, the state decides at the state level. It’s in the Constitution. Get over it.”
Sellers, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, pushed back on O’Leary and tried to draw examples from the reality star’s own lifetime.
“The problem with that sentiment is that you were born in 1954. You’re 71, right? In 1954, during your lifetime, we actually had Brown v. Board of Education,” Sellers said.
“I don’t know how you remember, I think you were like two months old. But I’m not finished yet, let me finish,” the pol replied.
O’Leary asked Sellers whether there was a point to his argument, and in going all the way back to 1954.
“Yeah, because you’re still alive, right? And so there is an entire generation of people – Brown v. Board, it overturned Plessy v. Ferguson,” Sellers continued.
A frustrated O’Leary cut in: “And your point is? Bring it, bring it, bring it!”
“My point is is that my mother was born in 1951. She desegregated schools. My father was shot in the civil rights movement –” Sellers said.
“I’m gonna finish, because you’re being utterly disrespectful,” Sellers said. “So what I’m telling you is that there are people in this country who fought, died and bled for the right to vote. Don’t be a d–k. Just understand –”
Phillip, the host of the show, cut Sellers off and asked the panelists to tone down their rhetoric.
“Okay. Bakari. I’m gonna stop you, because I just want everybody to reset with a modicum of respect. Please stop, okay?” Phillip said amid crosstalk between the two guests.
Resuming the conversation, Sellers told O’Leary, “I want you to understand there was a price that was paid for this right … And whether or not you value that or not, there are people who bled and died and were imprisoned for access to the ballot boxes.”
“They still have access!” O’Leary exclaimed.
Sellers replied: “What we’re seeing throughout the South is that their voice, their vote, their representation and people who have lived experiences to represent them are not being sent to Congress or where they need to go.”
Phillip similarly stepped in to de-escalate a heated exchange two weeks ago on her show between conservative commentator Scott Jennings and Adam Mockler, a 23-year-old liberal podcaster.
During a bitter fight over the duration of the Iran war, Jennings exploded at Mockler, exclaiming, “Get your f–king hand out of my face!”
