Moments after he broke into tears after announcing that CNN colleague Drew Griffin has passed away at age 60 after battling cancer, a clearly distraught Don Lemon conducted an interview with a Jan. 6 documentary maker that grew more tense by the moment.
Along with "CNN This Morning" co-host Kaitlan Collins, Lemon spoke with filmmaker Andrew Callaghan about his "This Place Rules" documentary showing on HBO and things got off to a rough start after Collins asked about Proud Boys head Enrique Tarrio.
Referencing the Jan 6 House committee holding its last public hearing on Monday, Collins asked, "When it comes to what's happening today, Enrico Tarrio, he was not at the Capitol on the 6th but still played a role in this, facing some of the most serious charges stemming from that day. What did you see from him as you were shooting this?"
"I talked to him in the lead-up to the January 6th Capitol riot, hung out with him a little bit in D.C., Miami and elsewhere," was all Callaghan had to offer.
"What did you learn about him?" Collins pressed.
"Uh, he sells T-shirts, he's the chairman of the Proud Boys ... yeah," the filmmaker replied, again adding nothing.
That led an obviously aggravated Lemon to step in and ask, "So no details about his involvement, his state of mind or anything?"
"I don't think -- the movie is not just about the Capitol riot and all that," Callaghan replied. "It's also about like media echo chambers. You know what I mean? The dangers of the 24-hour news cycle and how I think mainstream media like Fox and even CNN competes for views by running constant 24-hour news cycle based on fear, division, outrage and panic, probably to, like, sell ads. It's not just about the capitol riot."
"I'm not exactly sure --" Lemon began before changing direction and snapping, "First of all, I don't agree with what you're saying, but I'm not exactly sure of how that played into people going into the Capitol and rioting on January 6th. And there's nothing fake about CNN."
"I'm not saying fake news," the filmmaker attempted. "I'm saying ramping people up and increasing division during that period of time. Watch people fall down the rabbit hole and be pushed into action and just, yeah, falling down the conspiracy rabbit hole."