Don Lemon confronted Terry Crews for his Black Lives Matter remarks after the actor suggested that all lives matter, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

"If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology," Crews tweeted on June 30. "We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn't morph into #blacklivesbetter."

If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology. 

We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter

— terry crews (@terrycrews) June 30, 2020

Monday night, the two men shared their individual stances on the Black Lives Matter movement as Crews defended his rationale during an appearance on CNN Tonight.

The 51-year-old actor highlighted the high rates of gun violence in Chicago. The city experienced a violent Fourth of July weekend, with 64 people injured and 15 people killed due to gun violence, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Crews said despite the presence of Black on Black crime, Black Lives Matter leaders have focused their attention on police brutality. 

"This is the thing, Don, Black people need to hold other Black people accountable," Crews said. "If anything is going to change, we, ourselves, have to look at our own community and look at each other and say, 'This thing cannot go down.'" 

"It has to be all Black lives matter," Crews added.

The CNN anchor explained why the focus of the recent Black Lives Matter movement is police brutality rather than gun violence in the nation.

“The Black Lives Matter movement was started because it was talking about police brutality, if you want an all Black lives matter movement that talks about gun violence in communities, including Black communities, then start that movement with that name,” Lemon told the actor. “That’s not what Black Lives Matter is about. It’s not an all-encompassing. If someone started a movement that said ‘cancer matters,’ and then someone came and said, ‘Why aren’t you talking about HIV?’ It’s not the same thing, we’re talking about cancer."

“So the Black Lives Matter movement is about police brutality and injustice in that manner, not about what’s happening in Black neighborhoods. There are people who are working on that issue and if you want to start that issue, why don’t you start it? Do you understand what I’m saying?” Lemon continued. 

Crews refuted Lemon's statements, saying that the movement is about more than police brutality, and Lemon continued to push back. 

“I agree but that’s not what the Black Lives Matter movement is about, Terry, Black Lives Matter is about police brutality and about criminal justice,” Lemon said. “It’s not about what happens in communities when it comes to crime. People who live near each other, Black people, kill each other. Same as whites. It happens in every, single neighborhood,” Lemon replied. 

Lemon concluded the interview by saying "I'm over it, Terry."

People took to Twitter to share their reactions to the Lemon attempting to put Crews in his place. 

The actor tweeted Tuesday morning with a subliminal message.

"If I’m truly your equal, I can discuss my concerns with you- but if I’m not- all my concerns are perceived as threats," Crews wrote.

Prior to the interview, Crews made it clear that he was standing strong on his perspective, tweeting "I also decide to die on this hill."


Black-lives-matterDon lemonterry crews