When anti-ICE protesters impeded on a Minneapolis church, the Media Research Center was predictably outraged by it, generating inflammatory headlines like these:
- ABC, CBS REFUSE to Cover Anti-ICE Mob Harassing Christians at Minneapolis Church
- Network Newscasts Downplay Minneapolis Church Incursion
- CNN’s Cornish Frets MN Church Protest Could Be Used Against Anti-ICE Movement
- Enabling the Left: PBS News Hour Downplays Minneapolis Church Invasion, Mob Violence
- Not MAGA TV: CBS Has Spent Only 13 Seconds on Anti-ICE Mob Storming Church
- CNN Downplays Pending Legal Action Against Lib Mob that Stormed Church
- OMISSION: ABC News Fails to Mention Arrests of MN Church Invaders
But what really galled the MRC about the incident is that former CNN anchor Don Lemon — whom the MRC despises — tagged along. Curtis Houck groused in a Jan. 19 post:
On Monday morning’s The Huddle, our friend and co-host Sean Spicer teamed with fellow co-hosts Rachael Bade and Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine to slam disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon for tagging along with an anti-Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) mob to disrupt Sunday services at Minneapolis-based City Church based on a claim someone from ICE worked there.
After scoffing at Lemon’s insistence this was “a clandestine mission” by activists, Bade played video of Lemon’s exchange with the pastor in which he lectured the reverend for not “loving” the mob and respecting the “Constitution and the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”
Houck spouted more hate the next day:
On Monday, disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon joined Jennifer Welch on the I’ve Had It Podcast News to double down on his Sunday stunt with an anti-Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) mob to storm a Twin Cities-area church, arguing he was merely “a journalist” observing a group doing what was akin to “sitting in at lunch counters” during the Civil Rights movement” or the story in the Gospels of Jesus flipping over the tables of the money changers
Why? Lemon argued it was necessary to target an un-Christian, pro-“white supremacy” church refusing to embrace the “uncomfortable.”
[…]Parroting the mob, Lemon insisted the church was worth disrupting because they believe a church shouldn’t be allowed to refer to themselves as Christians and have someone in leadership who works for ICE.
[…]Then came the crux of Lemon’s heretic smear, wrapping himself in his book about his upbringing in Louisiana as proof he – unlike those he disrupted – know Christianity, calling it just like Jesus angrily calling out the money changers (which our friend Chuck Ross fact-checked) because the congregation, by having someone around who works for ICE, is “doing the exact opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be about.”
Instead, Lemon argues, the church should have welcomed and acquiesced to the hecklers:
[…]Following a comical slew of internet connectivity issues, Welch scoffed at this church as “one of those white evangelical churches that turn out to vote for Donald Trump, 80+% of that sect of Christianity” and are thus “white nationalists” and “the KKK” in 2026 with “panties in a wad.”
Interewstingly, Houck made no attempt to dispute any of Lemon’s claims about the church.
It was Alex Christy’s turn to rage against Lemon in a Jan. 23 post:
As of Friday, former CNN host Don Lemon has been able to avoid being arrested for his role in a Sunday takeover of a St. Paul church service thanks to some judicial activism. Reacting to everything on his Thursday podcast, Lemon patted himself on the back for his role in the incident while accusing his critics of “homophobia and racism.”
[…]Lemon’s descent into becoming a professional crazy person culminated when he claimed to understand what really motivates his critics, “I get the history of this country. I get that we come from a history of slavery. I get that we come from a history and a present of slavery and homophobia. I get that. All of—most of the things, if you read the criticism about me, most of it is just look at it, it’s rooted in homophobia and racism.”
Unfortunately for Lemon, he’s on video contradicting himself on just how much he knew before the crowd stormed the church. Lemon may try to portray himself as a journalist, but he’s just an activist with a camera.
Christy also failed to respond to Lemon’s specific claims.