Belafonte Attacks Cain: 'A Bad Apple' 'So Denied Intelligence'
NewsBusters ^ | 11 Oct 2011 | Noel Sheppard
Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 11:51:00 AM by mandaladon
In a "Joy Behar Show" segment scheduled to be aired on HLN Friday, singer Harry Belafonte attacked Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in potentially the most disgraceful manner of any media member to date.
While his host and others on the set laughed, Belafonte called Cain "a bad apple" that was "so denied intelligence...I don’t think prayers were created for him" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JOY BEHAR, HOST: Now, let me interrupt you for a second, because now you have someone like Herman Cain.
HARRY BELAFONTE: Who?
BEHAR: Herman Cain?
BELAFONTE: Herman Cain?
BEHAR: You know who he is. [Laughs] And he doesn’t believe that racism holds anyone back in any way now. I mean, you know, what do you think about that statement?
BELAFONTE: Well, you know, it’s very hard to comment on somebody who is so denied intelligence…
[LAUGHTER FROM BEHAR AND OTHERS IN THE STUDIO]
BELAFONTE: … and certainly someone who is as denied a view of history such as he reveals. He knows very little. Because he happened to have had good fortune hit him, because he happened to have had a moment when he broke through, the moment someone blinked, does not make him the authority on the plight of people of color. […]
BELAFONTE: I just want to make this observation about Herman Cain. The Republican Party, the Tea Party, all those forces to the extreme right have consistently tried to come up with representation for what they call black, what they call the real negroes, and try to push these images as the kinds of voices that America should be living through. So we got Condoleezza Rice, we got Colin Powell. I know they’re heroes for some people, but for a lot of us they’re not.
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