Former CNN host Don Lemon defended his conduct while covering the disruption of a Minneapolis church service by anti-immigration enforcement protesters, responding to criticism and a federal civil rights investigation in a TikTok video posted Sunday.
Lemon had broadcast footage of the incident on his YouTube channel after arriving at Cities Church in Minneapolis roughly 40 minutes into a lengthy livestream documenting protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His response came after Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced on X that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was investigating the disruption.
In his TikTok video, Lemon denied any affiliation with the protest group and rejected accusations that he helped organize the event. He said he and his team were simply following demonstrators and documenting their actions.
“The MAGA administration and the fake news MAGAs are losing their mind over something that’s not even true,” Lemon said, adding that he did not know the protesters were headed to the church until they arrived. “We were there chronicling protests.”
Lemon said that once the protest entered the church, his actions amounted to standard reporting. “Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people who were involved,” he said, citing the First Amendment in defense of his coverage.
During the livestream itself, Lemon repeatedly defended the protesters and described disruption as an inherent part of protest activity. “The whole point of it is to disrupt and make people uncomfortable,” he said at one point.
Video from the livestream showed congregants, including children, leaving the church during the disturbance and heading outside into freezing temperatures, with Minneapolis recording a high of around 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I imagine it is uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here,” Lemon said, before adding, “that’s what protesting is about.”
Earlier in the livestream, Lemon introduced the leader of the protest group and suggested he was aware of their plans. He told viewers the demonstrators were preparing for what he described as “Operation Pull Up,” an effort he said involved surprising individuals or institutions to “hold them to account.”
The disruption of the church service has drawn condemnation from federal officials. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Sunday that the Justice Department would respond forcefully.
“I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted,” Bondi wrote on X. “Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
Dhillon has cited the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a federal statute that also prohibits interference with religious worship, as a potential basis for enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing as federal officials determine whether civil rights laws were violated during the incident.
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Would U want this in your church, mosque etc?
anyplace can be open for assult
by Anti ICE Groups
OK Insurrection Act via Don Lemon & allies
When CNN sends Lemons, make Lemonade.
OK Bondi
Show us, Now not next year.
How can anyone be so sick to justify attacking a church full of women and children? Even if the pastor was the head of ICE no reasonable mind could think it is okay to invade and disrupt a church service. These hooligans are sick mentally.
Don Lemon is a has been who is trying to stay prominent, but he is failing badly. He was wrong and should face punishment for these actions. He is no better than me and all other Americans, might be less relevant because of his looney beliefs.