In a recent interview with SiriusXM host Zerlina Maxwell and Jess McIntosh, Sen. Cory Booker addressed comments that billionaire and 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg made in an interview of his own.
On CBS This Morning, Bloomberg responded to Booker's assertion that no non-white candidate has qualified for the December debate by speaking on the history he has with the New Jersey senator and attempting to offer what one can only assume he thought would be a compliment.
.@MikeBloomberg on candidates' diversity: "Don't complain to me that you're not in the race" https://t.co/WBIekwdeZh
pic.twitter.com/Ca0QlMn6DH— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 6, 2019
"Cory Booker endorsed me a number of times. And I endorsed Cory Booker a number of times," Bloomberg said. "He’s very well-spoken. He’s got some good ideas. It would be better the more diverse any group is. But the public is out there picking and choosing and narrowing down this field."
In response, Booker called out Bloomberg's lack of understanding and his willingness to subscribe to old-fashioned "tropes".
"It's sort of stunning at times that we are still revisiting these sort of tired, you know, tropes or the language we have out there that folks I don't think understand," Booker said. "And the fact that they don't understand it's problematic."
Booker said that he hoped Bloomberg understood the impact of his words and how they can be interpreted in other communities.
"I hope people around [Bloomberg] are talking to him about why that plays into what is for the Black community in particular," Booker said. "Just these are signs of frustration that we continue to deal with issues, whether it was the Black face controversies from earlier this year to the challenges that I don't think folks understand with Kamala dropping out of the race."
During the same interview with CBS, Bloomberg claimed that "nobody asked" him about the controversial stop and frisk policing strategy until he ran for president, although it was later discovered that he was questioned about the subject and even defended it earlier this year.