‘That’s a lie!’ CEO shut down on CNN after pushing false claims on Black wealth

Cory Ruth, a CEO and former GOP consultant whose worked on Republican presidential campaigns, was shut down Saturday during an appearance on CNN after pushing false claims about Black wealth in the United States.

“Right now, we as African Americans put a lot of attention on what we're not getting,” Ruth said, who also leads the Atlanta-based consulting firm Mergence Global as its CEO. “...Right now, Black male income is equal to white male income when you account for region, industry and experience. They make two cents more per dollar.”

“That’s a lie!” shouted Jamal Bryant, a pastor from Baltimore and a former congressional candidate.

Ruth’s claims about Black male income are contradicted by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported that in 2023, Black mens’ median weekly earnings were $970, to white mens’ $1,225. Black men also earned $0.98 for every dollar a white man earned, and in a controlled analysis where both had the same qualifications, contrary to Ruth’s claims.

As Ruth continued to cite off supposed data on Black wealth in the United States, he continued to receive push-back, with both Bryant and LaTosha Brown, a community organizer and political strategist, proclaiming Ruth’s statements to be “not true!”

“The net worth of the average Black family is not even $5,000, (and) by 2030, we're headed towards zero net worth,” Bryant said, pushing back on Ruth’s claims.

“We have less home ownership now than we did when Dr. (Martin Luther) King was assassinated in 1968; 300,000 Black women have been terminated since April because of the rollbacks of DEI. The numbers and the data that Cory is giving is absolutely unfounded and has absolutely no merit.”

Undeterred, Ruth continued to share incorrect assessments of Black wealth in the United States, arguing that Black Americans had seen the “fastest reduction in poverty in human history behind only China.”

“Black poverty has dropped!” Ruth continued. “In 1968, 60% of Blacks were at or below the poverty line. Today, that's less than 17%.”

Ruth’s claims, again, were contradicted by publicly available data. According to the Census Bureau, around 35% of Black Americans lived in poverty in 1968, nearly half the amount Ruth claimed. Going back to 1958, around 55% of Black Americans lived in poverty, with the increases in Black wealth largely attributed to the enforcement of civil rights during that period.

Ruth’s claims also sparked further push-back from Brown, who also noted several vital omissions in the CEO’s assessment of Black wealth.

“The fact that you've got to go all the way back to 1968, you're skipping over the Reagan years, you're skipping over the years in the 1990s where there was mass incarceration,” Brown said.

Watch the video below or use this link.