The #BlackLivesMatter Battle Of Don Lemon And Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. [Video]

Don Lemon had a doozy of an interview with David A. Clarke, Jr., whose @SheriffClarke Twitter account is getting plenty of feedback — along with Sheriff Clarke’s name in conjunction with Lemon’s name — on Twitter. As seen in the below videos, Sheriff Clarke’s interview with Lemon turned contentious when Don asked Clarke about the tragic killing of police in Baton Rouge on Sunday, July 17.

As reported by CNN, things got pretty heated between Lemon and Clarke.

Sheriff Clarke hails from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin — and can be seen in the photo above from Friday, May 20. That’s the day that Clarke spoke at the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky. However, it was Clarke’s interview with Lemon, as seen in part below, that caused a big reaction on social media.

Clarke blamed the “Black Lives Matter” movement for the violence and turned to Lemon and continued asking Don questions each time Lemon tried to interview Clarke about the killings of police officers on Sunday. Lemon appeared frustrated with Sheriff Clarke at one point that the interview went to a commercial break. When the interview was resumed, Lemon diplomatically suggested that Don and Sheriff Clarke not talk over one another, but to make sure to keep the conversation civil, or else stated that Clarke was free to leave.

Instead, Sheriff Clarke appeared agitated as he continued to press Lemon about his personal thoughts on the “Black Lives Matter” movement. As Don asked Sheriff Clarke to stay on topic about the events of the day in Baton Rouge, Sheriff Clarke brought up the fact that he predicted that the “Black Lives Matter” movement would cause trouble — as Clarke put it — two years ago, claiming that “Black Lives Matter” is all about hate speech towards police officers.

Sheriff Clarke spoke about black-on-black crime and about police officers going into “ghettos” to defend the lives of blacks. Lemon brought up white-on-white crime, with Clarke retorting that he didn’t care about who white folks killed. The emotions in the interview were high as Clarke seemed to try to pin down Lemon to get him to think the way Clarke did, which was to blame what he called was the “Black Lives Matter” rhetoric for inspiring crimes against cops.

Lemon reiterated the point that Don was a journalist and didn’t need to pick a side nor answer Sheriff Clarke’s questions. Lemon said that as a reporter, it wasn’t his job to adhere to either side — with Don saying that he was neither a supporter nor a defender or member of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Clarke asked Don how could one even become of member of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, going on to claim what Clarke deemed was a disorganized movement.

On Twitter, Clarke lists the following credentials in his Twitter profile.

“Sheriff Milwaukee County. MA Security Studies NPS. NRA Patron Member. CPAC Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award. FLEOA Law Enforcement Leader of Year 2016.”

Meanwhile, the heated interview between Sheriff Clarke and Lemon is getting plenty of feedback on social media. Some of those reactions are listed below.

“Sheriff Clarke is accustomed to his Stockholm-laden performances going unchecked on #Fox. Dude made Lemon look like an activist #CNN”

“Sheriff David Clarke: ‘Black Lives Matter’ are purveyors of a ‘hateful, violent ideology.”

“Sheriff Clarke [is] dumb as a sack of rocks and Don Lemon doesn’t have the b**** to go at him. That was rigged against him from the start.”

“Sheriff Clarke sounds & looks angry. If he’s not going to be part of solution, he shouldn’t be part of the problem.”

[Photo by Mark Humphrey/AP Images]