CNN's Don Lemon to Donald Trump: 'Some people may perceive you as racist'
CNN anchor Don Lemon asked Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump if he's prejudiced against several different minority groups during an extensive Wednesday interview.
"I hear Hispanics talking about you. I hear gay people talking about you. And they say, 'I like what he has to say, but I'm just concerned,'" Lemon said at one point.
"If I ask you this question, will you answer directly? Do you think that you are homophobic?"
Trump directly said "no," and started listing all of the people whom he loves and love him back.
"You know who loves me? The Tea Party. The evangelicals. You know I'm leading with evangelicals? I love them. They love me. I'm Presbyterian — I'm Protestant — and they like me," he told Lemon. "But you know who else likes me? Democrats like me. Liberals like me. It's straight across the board and people are amazed."
Lemon then asked Trump if he's biased against African-Americans.
"You think you appeal to African-Americans," he said. "Some people may perceive you as racist. Answer that."
More notable moments from Donald Trump's 2016 campaign:
Trump responded by touting his recent speech at an African-American Chamber of Commerce event in South Carolina. But he lamented that the media, including CNN, had unfairly showed all of the empty seats in the back of the room.
"I did it as a favor to a couple of friends of mine who happen to be African-American who asked me to go. The dais was packed with people — packed with people! They were all up front," Trump recalled. "I could hardly get into the room. It was a great event. And CNN in particular made me look bad."
Those questions followed a segment discussing Trump's potential bias against Muslims. The business mogul stirred another campaign-trail controversy last month when he declined to correct a supporter who declared that Muslims are a "problem" for the country and that President Barack Obama was a Muslim foreigner.
"Do you think Muslims are a problem?" Lemon asked Wednesday.
"Well, I think a certain segment are certainly a problem, and unless you want to be so politically correct where you want me to say, 'Oh, absolutely not.' I mean, you have ISIS. You have the migration. You have all of this stuff," Trump said, while touting his many Muslim friends.
"You know, a lot of people think you're going to end up with World War III over the Middle East. I've heard that for 25 years."
Related - Tom Brady takes back his Donald Trump endorsement:
Click here to watch the full exchange at Mediaite >
See Also:
CNN's Don Lemon confronts Hillary Clinton: 'Did you or your campaign start the whole birther thing?'
'Crazy' Donald Trump supporters had an epic interview with CNN's Don Lemon
Donald Trump just got into a heated exchange with Don Lemon over his comments about immigrants
SEE ALSO: MITT ROMNEY: Donald Trump won't win the GOP nomination
