On Thursday night’s (April 29) episode of Newsnight on CNN, the panel discussion got heated, to the point where Republican pundit Scott Jennings lashed out at another panelist while issuing an expletive. He got into it with Democratic strategist Adam Mockler, as the panel was discussing the war in Iran. Mockler had begun to call Jennings out for his “condescending remarks”, referring to him as “homie” at one point.
“Name me one political concession…” Mockler continued, using his hands to gesticulate. That set Jennings off, who exploded in fury: “Get your f—ing hand out of my face, first of all!”
Newsnight host Abby Phillips switfly intervened: “Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa guys, excuse me!” Jennings, still furious, said, “I’m not going to have this guy’s hand in my face.” In a calm tone, Phillips talked to Jennings in an attempt to de-escalate the situation: “No. Calm down. We’re having a debate.You can respectully respond to the points he’s making.”
Jennings and Mockler began to talk over each other, until former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera chimed in, jokingly saying: “This reminds me of the war the skinheads had in my studio.” Phillps then set the stage for Jennings to respond with a dense reply, to which Mockler retorted, “So you can’t answer the question.”
The moment caught on like wildfire across the web. Mockler, a progressive who has amassed an audience of two million followers on YouTube, would make fun of Jennings after the show aired in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: Grown man on the verge of tears because he can’t answer a question.”
Others chimed in, commenting on Jennings’ outburst. “Absolutely UNHINGED behavior!”, the Democratic newsgroup MeidasTouch wrote in a post on X, adding: “How could any network possibly allow this loose cannon on the air?” Others noted that Mockler’s hand wasn’t near Jennings’ face at all during the segment. Progressive activist Hasan Piker wrote of the conflict on X, “Unbelievably satisfying.”
1. Jamelle Bouie
