An awkward and tense moment between CNN analyst Scott Jennings and panelist Bakari Sellers broke as Sellers touched Jennings while discussing the inflation issue. Sellers, who was arguing against Donald Trump's campaign and in favor of Joe Biden's inflation handling on NewsNight, touched Jennings, which quickly led to a heated exchange between the two.
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"One of the things we know is Scott was actually 50% correct, and that Democrats did not do a good job in telling our story," Sellers began saying as the argument started between the two, reported by the New York Post. "We did not do a good job of addressing the pain that Americans felt." Sellers would also admit that Democrats made a mistake during Joe Biden's presidency by saying that "inflation was transitory.
"Those things were not accurate because there are people who were out there feeling the pain of the price of eggs," Sellers continued. That is when the tense moment between the two happened. "What Scott was not accurate about, which kind of happens around the table sometimes, although I know you want to be," Sellers said as he grabbed Jenning's arm.
"Don't touch me," Jennings quickly said. "I can't touch you know?" Sellers answered, laughing and then moving his hand toward Jennings' back. Jennings became visibly angered by Sellers, as his facial expression and overall demeanor changed. Abby Phillip, NewsNight anchor quickly stepped in. "All right, everybody, keep your hands to yourselves at the table," Phillip said, in an attempt to defuse the situation.
A Heated Interaction
Sellers and Jennings would go back to arguing about inflation, with Sellers saying that Biden's policies were not to blame for the country's inflation. Jennings would disagree, and Sellers would blame COVID instead.
"You know what happened across the globe? You had inflation rise across the globe," Sellers said. Then, he would say that Joe Biden successfully addressed the situation. He would then say that Scott Jennings was right about a thing, which is that Democrats failed to label the issue, with Sellers naming it "Trumplfation."
This is by far the first heated interaction between Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers. Back in October, Jennings was heavily criticized for comparing Palestine protesters with Hitler. This came as a response to John Kelly's statements that Trump said Hitler "did some good things."
"I would just humbly submit to Mr. Kelly, if he's worried about Hitler and he's worried about fascism, he ought to pick up the newspaper," Jennings said at the time, later to name the protestors around college campuses and New York City. Sellers became outraged, saying that Jennings "crossed the line." "You are over there and the line is behind you to compare college students who are protesting for Palestinian rights to Adolf Hitler," Sellers said.
