CNN’s #AskACop hashtag backfires, elicits brutal responses
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A hashtag about asking police officers questions for a CNN panel turned extremely negative almost as soon as it was posted Tuesday.
#AskACop was meant to be used by viewers who wanted to tweet questions to officers for the town hall segment “Cops Under Fire,” hosted by Don Lemon.
There was an overwhelming response -- most of which were criticisms toward police.
Some examples: “do you think dogs would make better cops, i mean they are color blind...” and “so, do you beat your wife and/or kids before or after you murder an unarmed citizen? just wonderin’”
In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, distrust and animosity toward police is running high, at least in some quarters. Those feelings were made clear in tweets toward police, many of which were brutal.
By the time the show aired at 7 p.m., #AskACop was one of the highest Twitter trends in the U.S.
Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook.
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