WATCH: That Time Sunny Hostin Went OFF On Don Lemon For Using N-Word Live On CNN

Sunny Hostin and Don Lemon got heated when Lemon dropped a hard-“R” n-word during a CNN segment on when or if it’s ever appropriate to use the word on the air, in a 2015 segment about then-President Barack Obama’s use of the word.

Both are high-profile Black media figures who regularly confront thorny race issues — Hostin as a co-host of ABC’s The View and Lemon as a  co-anchor of CNN This Morning — but once upon a time, they both worked at CNN.

That’s how they wound up discussing the president’s use of the word in an interview, during which he said:

And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say “nigger” in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.

On a June 22, 2015 edition of The Situation Room, anchor Wolf Blitzer played the clip, then asked Lemon and Hostin — then a CNN legal analyst — to weigh in. Things really heated up when Lemon used the actual word during the segment:

BLITZER: Let’s get some more. Joining us, our CNN anchor Don Lemon and CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.

First to you, Sunny. What did you think? Was the president right to use that word?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don’t think so. I will tell you that I was surprised. I was shocked. I was disappointed. I think language matters, especially when that language is coming from the leader of the free world, the president of the United States, especially as an African-American man.

I think what it does, quite frankly, Wolf, is give people the feeling that they, too, can use it. We hear that argument being made oftentimes. “Well, rappers use it, so I can use it too.”

And I think that the president was sort of ill-advised in thinking that he was either going to be provocative or be instructive and nuanced. Because we all know he’s a wordsmith. We know that he chooses his words carefully. So I don’t think this was an accidental use of the term. But it now opens up the field for others using it.

And in fact, on our very network, Wolf, you know that this term was not used. It wasn’t something that journalists could use. And it wasn’t something that we aired on our network. But now, because the president said it, I have heard that word, a very hurtful word, over and over and over again.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That’s not right.

HOSTIN: Just today. It is right, it is right.

LEMON: No, I disagree with you. We have been able to use that word on this network for the entire nine years that I’ve been here.

HOSTIN: We haven’t done it.

LEMON: Yes, we have. I’ve used it. I’ve done it the entire time that I’ve been here. And the guidance has been, if the anchor is comfortable saying the word, the anchor can say the word on this network.

HOSTIN: Don, we had a correspondent a couple of years ago, and I’ve been here for six, seven years…

LEMON: But the correspondent said it — said…

HOSTIN: And that correspondent was not — was reprimanded for using that term.

LEMON: No, she was not. She was reprimanded for using an expletive, not for using that word…

HOSTIN: That’s even worse, Don.

LEMON: That word is not — that word is not an expletive.

HOSTIN: It says it’s worse than using a racial epithet. That’s what she’s saying.

LEMON: No, if you’re using — if she was on television calling someone that word, then yes, she should be suspended for it. But if she’s on television using that word in context as to what someone said or what was used in a court of law or what have you, then no one should be suspended for that.

We should not sanitize that word by saying, “This person called such and such the ‘N’ word.” No, that person didn’t call that person the “N” word. That person called — Sunny, I know you’re going to get upset. That person called you or that person a nigger. They didn’t say the “N” word.

HOSTIN: I can’t believe, Don…

LEMON: As journalists — as journalists, we are — there’s…

HOSTIN: … that you as an African-American man are going to use that word.

LEMON: Of course, because…

HOSTIN: Words matter, and you should know that.

LEMON: I do know that. I have said the entire time that I’ve been here, I don’t think we should bastardize the word. I don’t think it should be used freely in songs over and over again.

HOSTIN: You shouldn’t use it at all.

LEMON: If you’re using it in context of a story, and it is relevant, you should be able to say it. And in fact, I encourage people to say it, because I think…

HOSTIN: You’re encouraging people to use a racial epithet?

LEMON: … you should hear the — because you should hear the impact of the word. No, I’m not encouraging people to call people the “N” word. I’m using it in historically. If you are — I’m a journalist. Journalists are part of the record. It is our job to convey the truth and to tell people reality —

HOSTIN: It’s also our job to realize —

LEMON: It’s not our job to sanitize a word.

HOSTIN: — that there are certain words that should not be used.

(CROSSTLAK)

LEMON: It shouldn’t be used if you’re calling someone —

HOSTIN: To use our journalistic conscience to make sure —

LEMON: That’s what we’re doing.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: Get on air and use expletives —

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Don, I just —

LEMON: If you’re using it to call someone a derogatory name, not if you’re reporting a story.

BLITZER: Don, let me — in the last two hours, I’ve interviewed Cornell Brooks, president of the NAACP, Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. They both wish that word would not be uttered. Why do you have to use that word instead of saying the “N” word?

LEMON: You don’t have to use that word. I wish that word would not be uttered. I wish people would not call —

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: You’re uttering it yourself.

LEMON: But I’m not calling someone the word. I’m a journalist, I’m supposed to use it. We’re supposed to tell the truth. We’re not supposed to sanitize it.

HOSTIN: Oh my goodness. Wow.

LEMON: You’re sanitizing it by using — by saying that.

BLITZER: All right, guys. We’re not going to continue this conversation right now.

But, Don, you’re going to continue this conversation later tonight. I want our viewers to tune in, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN, tonight.

Sunny, thanks very much. Next time, Sunny, you have to tell us how you really feel about that word. And, Don, you as well. Don’t hold back as you did today.

LEMON: I love you, Sunny.

HOSTIN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Thanks so much.

Watch above via CNN.

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