CNN's Lemon: 'Political Correctness is...Life And Death to Many People'

During Thursday's edition of CNN Tonight, host Don Lemon and his panel discussed the controversy surrounding Stephen Ross, the billionaire owner of Equinox and SoulCycle. Despite the fact that Ross also owns the complex known as Hudson Yards that CNN just moved to, Lemon and most of his panel trashed Ross's decision to host a to host a fundraiser for President Trump. Republican guest Doug Heye talked about how "political correctness" has led to Americans "divided on party lines, we're divided within parties, we're divided on race, we're divided by religion." Heye expressed dismay that "we're looking at it business by business, so we're divided on Chick-Fil-A, we're divided on the NFL, we're divided on Equinox, we're divided on business after business and it just makes it harder for Americans to find any place where they can come together." Lemon promptly rushed to defend political correctness, describing it as "shorthand for what is life and death to many people. It's not political correctness when you are being discriminated against, if you are not allowed...as a gay person to be able to marry, if you don't have the same rights under the Constitution...sometimes people use that political correct term and it's shorthand for really just discrimination." Lemon closed by channeling his inner Ayanna Pressley, asking "what about the people who are maybe LGBT, maybe black, maybe Hispanic, who prioritize vanity or convenience over their rights?" In other words, all people in those groups must discontinue their memberships at Equinox and/or SoulCycle.