From The Los Angeles Times, David Pierson reported from Los Angeles:
Throngs of Chinese Americans protested outside CNN’s offices in Hollywood on Saturday morning, calling for the dismissal of commentator Jack Cafferty, whose recent remarks about Chinese goods and China inflamed a community already angry about international condemnations directed at the host country of the upcoming Olympic Games.
More than 1,000 ethnic Chinese protesters gathered along Sunset Blvd near N Cahuenga Blvd shouting “Liar” in front of CNN’s Los Angeles office, demanding a “sincere apology” from political commentator Jack Cafferty for calling Chinese “goons and thugs” on the air last week; by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles TimesThe protesters lined Sunset Boulevard from Cahuenga Boulevard to Wilcox Avenue chanting “Fire Cafferty” and “CNN liar” and singing the Chinese national anthem and other patriotic songs. They waved Chinese, American and Taiwanese flags and directed their anger at the news channel’s dark glass tower.
“It’s really unacceptable,” said John He, an organizer of the event. “It maliciously attacks all Chinese. This would not be accepted if it was directed at any other ethnic group.”
On the April 9 airing of “The Situation Room,” Cafferty said of America’s relationship with China: “We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export . . . jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we’re buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”
