OAN Staff James Meyers
9:33 AM – Thursday, January 30, 2025
CNN commentator Bakari Sellers, along with two other well known left-leaning commentators with massive social media followings, sparked outrage on Wednesday night by blaming President Donald Trump for the tragic midair collision between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter.
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At the time, Sellers posted and then deleted a screenshot of a press release from last week after Representative Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), criticizing Trump saying he called for a “dangerous freeze of air traffic control hiring.”
Larsen’s comments were a reference to one of Trump’s executive orders that he signed upon taking office last week.
Immediately, Sellers received harsh criticism from users, saying he was politicizing the deadly crash.
“Americans are currently being fished out of the Potomac, and rather than have reverence for the victims, you chose to dishonestly (and despicably) blame,” one such user said, pointing to footage being aired on Sellers’ own station.
“The freeze has not affected any ATC command centers ANYWHERE after January 20th. There is no bottom low enough for @CNN,” another pointed out, poking holes in the pundit’s controversial suggestion.
After others continued to criticize him, Sellers then took down the post. He then issued an apology on Wednesday night, just two hours after the crash occurred.
“I deleted the post because timing matters,” Sellers wrote after the backlash. “Politics at this point does not. I f***ed up, I own that.”
“I am very prayerful but I’m also very frustrated upset and disturbed with where we are as a country,” he continued. “I recognize, and I will do better.”
“The only thing that matters is rescuing the survivors, and ensuring this never happens again,” he added, suggesting he brought up his unfounded conspiracy too soon.
However, some users on X weren’t having it, with some pointing out factual inconsistencies in his comments.
“You can’t train an air traffic controller in 8 days,” one user wrote, while offering Sellers a four-letter expletive.
“You deleted the post because dozens of Americans are currently being fished out of the Potomac,” added another in direct response to the apology.
“[A]nd rather than have reverence for the victims, you chose to dishonestly (and despicably) blame [Donald Trump],” another user commented.
“People are dead. How can you be so full of political hatred,” another user said.
“The hiring freeze did NOT apply to ATC,” another added. They went on to state how “even if the headline was accurate, using the death of 60+ innocent people to get a political dig in an hour after their death is as low as you can go.”
Aaron Rupar, a former Vox reporter who currently has over 908,000 followers on X, posted a link to a Huffington Post article with a headline that read: “Trump Guts Key Aviation Safety Committee, Fires Heads of TSA, Coast Guard.”
The story, which was written by the Associated Press, was published on January 22nd.
As a result, the post received more heavy criticisms.
One X user wrote: “You are a disgusting excuse for a human being.”
Another X user wrote: “Well, if you are linking these firings to the crash, it means all of the fired individuals were doing poor jobs and the firing was justified.”
Additionally, Kyle Kulinski, who is a left-leaning podcaster who hosts “Secular Talk,” posted the same headline as Rupar.
One user responded: “This is low, even for you…Was mere luck this didn’t happen during Biden admin.”
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