CNN host's 'racist' comment to 12-year-old spelling bee champ
A CNN host has copped critiscism for being 'racist' after she assumed the 2017 national spelling bee champion, an Indian American, is "used to using" Sanskrit, an ancient Hindu language.
Ananya Vinay, 12, appeared on 'New Day' as a guest after her victory at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo were interviewing Vinay when they then asked her to spell 'covfefe' - a word US President Donald Trump recently used on Twitter.
The sixth-grader appeared confused before asking the normal questions competitors ask in a spelling bee to figure out what the word meant such as country of origin and the definition.
Vinay came very close to spelling the word the way Trump did before Camerota made a comment about Sanskrit.
“It’s a nonsense word. So, we’re not sure that its root is actually in Sanskrit, which is what you’re probably, uh, used to using, so, I don’t know. Anyway,” Camerota said.
Many people took offence to Camerota's potential meaning behind the comment.
A CNN spokeswoman said defended the comment, explaining it had nothing to do with Vinay's heritage, and the interview was not the first time the anchor joked about Sanskrit being the origin of “covfefe.”
“Alisyn made the same joking reference to the root of ‘covfefe’ in an earlier panel discussion that aired Wednesday. If she’s guilty of anything it’s recycling a joke. To assign a bias to what was a fun and innocent segment celebrating Ananya Vinay’s incredible accomplishment is frankly extremely cynical,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Sanskrit - an ancient language closely associated with Hinduism - is rarely spoken today and is generally used by Hindu priests during religious ceremonies.
People were quick to pick up the comment and were outraged by it.
Newsbreak – June 5
