Conservative pundit Ben Ferguson got his ears boxed on Sunday in a discussion about professional athletes kneeling during the national anthem when he tried to call the protesters unpatriotic and said they're disrespecting the military.
On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence theatrically walked out of an Indianapolis Colts game because he was so deeply offended when he saw the protesters take a knee that he couldn't stay.
However, tweets between Pence and President Donald Trump show that this was a premeditated publicity stunt.
"Just reading the text of these back and forth tweets, it's almost laughable," said CNN anchor Fredericka Whitfield. "It's almost embarrassing, but it's happening in real time."
The segment got heated when Ferguson said that the demonstrators -- who are protesting police brutality toward black Americans -- are unpatriotic and are disrespecting the military, which supposedly prompted Pence's walkout.
"As long as the NFL is consistently coming out there disrespecting this country, I expect the vice president of the United States of America to not attend an event where people are disrespecting the United States of America, those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.
In staging his walkout, Ferguson said, Vice President Mike Pence was honoring "an obligation to the president of the United states of America to leave a situation where people were basically giving the middle finger to the men and women who fought and protect this country."
"That is false and you should be ashamed," said Democratic strategist Symone Sanders.
"It's not false," Ferguson said. "It's my opinion."
"Nobody has done that," said Sanders.
Watch the video, embedded below:
