CNN Star’s Guests Now Going to War With Her Off-Set
“Newsnight” host Abby Phillip had clashed with “Biggest Loser” star Jillian Michaels over her comments on slavery.
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Essence
Biggest Loser star turned MAGA influencer Jillian Michaels has taken her war of words with CNN host Abby Phillip off-camera.
Michaels, a fitness trainer and health expert, caused outrage last week during a confrontational appearance on Newsnight, hosted by Phillip, for appearing to downplay the seriousness and impact of slavery in America.
Michaels suggested slavery cannot be blamed on white people given that “two percent of White Americans owned slaves” in the United States and slavery has “existed for thousands of years” around the world.
Fitness expeet Jillian Michaels also accused the Smithsonian of trying to "tie imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race."
Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
Phillip, who confronted Michaels during the Aug. 13 broadcast of Newsnight in what was meant to be a discussion about President Donald Trump’s takeover of cultural institutions like the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian, further condemned Michaels’ comments in follow-up CNN appearances.
In a post on X, Michaels defended her statements while aiming further fire at Phillip.
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“Hey Abby Phillip, maybe take notes from Megyn Kelly. Could help ya move outta last place,” Michaels wrote while sharing a YouTube link of the conservative commentator trashing the CNN host on her show. “And while you’re at it do a little fact checking ... I said ‘slavery has been around for thousands of years’. America is 249 years old. The more ya know.”
Phillip discussed Michaels’ comments on slavery, which she said “shocked the table,” in an opening monologue on the Aug. 19 episode of Newsnight.
Phillip said she was addressing the remarks because Trump has claimed the Smithsonian museums are too focused on “how bad slavery was” in America.
“What we try to do on this program is create a platform for discussion and debate, debate that reflects the very real differences that exist in this country,” Phillip said. “It’s what echo chambers in our society fail to do, frankly. But on this topic, it’s important to say, objectively, slavery was indeed bad. It was evil, the nation’s original sin.”
Jillian Michaels bemoaned that museums in the U.S. push the narrative that "white people bad" with its slavery exhibitions.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
In a YouTube short video posted onto CNN’s account, Phillip also condemned Michaels’ “incredibly misleading” statistic that only 2 percent of white Americans owned slaves, as the rest of the country still benefited from the “economic system of slavery, the political system of slavery, and culturally treating black people as if they were not human.”
“Here’s the truth. Slavery in the United States was about race. It was about white supremacy, and it was really, really bad,” Phillip said. “Now Jillian, like many other voters, is entitled to her opinion. She’s just not entitled to her own facts.”
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