Anderson Cooper Is in Hot Water

Anderson Cooper is coming under fire for his remarks to former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner.

The Democratic politician appeared on CNN on Tuesday as part of the channel's coverage of the Michigan Primary.

During the panel discussion, Turner referenced the current humanitarian emergency in Gaza, sparked by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 as hostages. Israel subsequently launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which borders southern Israel and has been governed by Hamas since 2006.

Food, medicine, energy and fuel supplies to the area were suspended before Israel launched a ground offensive in late October. As of February 28, at least 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the Associated Press reports, with the U.N. warning that a quarter of the territory's 2.3 million population is facing starvation.

Addressing Michigan's uncommitted voters, Turner suggested that Biden's Israel policy was losing the Democratic party support, particularly among Arab Americans.

She referenced the president's recent spot on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The 81-year-old made a surprise appearance on Monday, which included a visit to an ice cream shop with the talk show host.

"While this president was in the ice cream shop saying, 'I think there's going to be a ceasefire,' 30,000 people have been slaughtered," the 56-year-old said. "People are living in famine. They can't get medical care. So, it can't come soon enough for them."

While Turner discussed calls for a ceasefire by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, Cooper interjected, telling her: "By the way, there's also been slaughter in Israel."

"There's a lot of pain on both sides," the CNN host cut in, shutting Turner down. "We don't really need a lecture on the problem. I'm not talking about the politics of this tonight."

Turner explained that she wasn't denying the pain and loss of Israelis, but believes that Biden should use his close relationship with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to call for a ceasefire.

"We don't need to debate the issue," Cooper hit back.

Newsweek has reached out to Anderson Cooper for comment via email and Nina Turner by Instagram.

Cooper's "rude" response to Turner has been shared widely on social media, with many users slamming the veteran journalist.

"My god, Anderson Cooper just cut Nina Turner off from speaking about the depth of the suffering in Gaza live on CNN, multiple times, right after she mentioned 30,000 dead in Gaza. It was completely shameless." Emma Vigeland said on X, formerly Twitter.

"Did i hear him wrong or did he actually say to her 'we don't need a lecture'?!" wrote Jen.

"Anderson Cooper doesn't want to hear what ordinary Americans think about Israel's war on Gaza," said Daniel Chomsky.

"I frankly can't believe i used to think anderson cooper had journalistic integrity," commented @collectdust.

"Over 30,000 Palestinians killed and Anderson Cooper says "we don't need a lecture," said @DenyMilkshakes.

"Anderson Cooper showed his whole a** in this exchange," wrote Laura. "Just disgusting."

However, some users defended the news anchor, with Sharon Clarke writing: "Even Anderson Cooper has his limit."

"Anderson Cooper just body-slammed Nina Turner. Well done," said Andrew C Laufer.

"I switched as soon as I saw her," wrote @gramrcyriffs.

"She's terrible," agreed LHM.

Turner addressed the viral exchange on NewsNation on Wednesday.

Revisiting the uncommitted voter issue, host Chris Cuomo said: "They're not going to vote for Trump if they're mad at Biden for being pro-Israel. They're not going to vote at all."

Turner agreed, describing Biden as a "Zionist." According to Britannica, Zionism is a movement committed to the establishment and support of a "Jewish national state in Palestine."

"This is not about Trump," Turner said. "My message yesterday was that we need to use politics to ameliorate suffering. Why do every time we talk about this issue, we have to extra-humanize the Palestinians?"

She continued: "Of course what Hamas did on October 7 by targeting civilians was horrendous, and they must answer [for] that, but all this time later, people who talk about October 7 never have the same obligation to talk about the 30,000 people who are dead [in Gaza]."