Don Lemon To Muslim Lawyer: "Do You Support ISIS?"

You'd think that people who have majorly messed up in 2014 would seize the opportunity that a New Year presents to make amends or turn over a new leaf, but one notorious news anchor has proved to us, yet again, that he is absolutely clueless and probably should have been fired already. This year's first media gaffe is courtesy of — obviously — Don Lemon, asking a Muslim lawyer if he supported ISIS.

Lemon was speaking to Arsalan Iftikhar, a Human Rights lawyer and founder of The Muslim Guy, on his broadcast on Wednesday night about the Charlie Hedbo shooting, one of France's deadliest terrorist attacks that saw 12 die in a shooting spree by three men allegedly claiming that they were affiliated with Al Qaeda in Yemen. Lemon asked Iftikhar:

Would you describe those who support ISIS as Islamic extremists? Do you support ISIS?

To which Iftikhar, visibly taken aback, said:

Wait — did you just ask me if I supported ISIS? I just answered your question. I said that obviously these 16 percent of people support the ideology, but again, I don't think that would necessarily extrapolate to supporting of killing of innocent people.

The vast majority of the Muslim street, whether you're dealing with Paris or Jakarta, we're as horrified as anyone else about what happened today, and we grieve with the victims and the people of Paris

And, get this — Lemon's question was posed directly after Iftikhar explained, in detail, why Muslims shouldn't have to defend their religion after terror attacks that perpetrators carry out in the name of their God.

Iftikhar had said:

It's important not to conflate the actions of a very few to a population of 1.7 billion people, which represents 20 percent of the world's population. You know, if people want to blame Islam for things, you know, they can blame us for inventing algebra or modern medical anesthesia or having five out of the last 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Which begs the question — Did Lemon understand any of that? Did he even hear it? Was he not paying attention?? Frankly, I'm surprised CNN's patience with Lemon hasn't yet worn thin, because, we all know how spectacularly his 2014 went, what with his "preposterous" theory on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 being swallowed by a black hole, comparing spanking children to training dogs, his incredibly insightful advice on how to avoid rape, and his snarky "Obviously, there's a smell of marijuana" comment while reporting from the riots in Ferguson, Missouri.

His excellent reporting earned him the Columbia Journalism Review's "Worst Journalist of 2014" crown, and thus far he hasn't been doing a very good job of shaking off the title. At the rate he's continuing at, Lemon might well be in the running for this year's "Worst Journalist" label, too. Congratulations, CNN.

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