CNN host Don Lemon threw a prominent Muslim human rights lawyer for a loop on Wednesday night by breaking from discussion of the Paris shooting to ask him: “Do you support ISIS?”
The question came while Lemon was interviewing lawyer Arsalan Iftikhar about the attacks on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Lemon said a poll found “16 percent of French citizens” support the Middle Eastern terrorist group known as Islamic State. Iftikhar answered that disenfranchised Muslim populations may sympathize with radicals, but are not necessarily predisposed to violence.
Lemon said he understood where his guest was going.
“Would you describe those who support ISIS as Islamic extremists? Do you support ISIS?” Lemon asked.
Iftikhar appeared baffled.
“Wait, did you just ask if I support ISIS?” he replied. “I just answered your question, I said that obviously this 16 percent of people support the ideology, but again, I don’t think that would extrapolate to supporting 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,” he added.
Watch the clip:
h/t Mediaite
