CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill on Monday night criticized prominent African Americans like Steve Harvey, Kanye West, and Ray Lewis for meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, calling them "mediocre negroes" who are being exploited.
Hill was participating in a discussion about Steve Harvey's meeting last week with Trump on Don Lemon's "CNN Tonight," alongside panelists Symone Sanders, Bruce Levell, and Kayleigh McEnany, when he made the controversial remarks.
Lemon prompted the conversation by asking Hill what he thought of the blowback that Harvey received for meeting with the president-elect.
"I love Steve Harvey and I have respect for Steve Harvey and I think his intentions were appropriate, but my disagreement is the way in which he's being used by folk like Donald Trump," Hill said. He then suggested that Harvey should have brought along an African-American policy leader like Cornell West or Michelle Alexander to challenge the president-elect.
"They keep bringing up comedians and athletes to represent black interests is demeaning, it's disrespectful, and it's condescending," Hill continued.
Bruce Levell, the executive director of the National Diversity Coalition for Donald Trump, challenged Hill on his assertion and questioned how Hill could pretend to know what the president-elect and Harvey discussed in their meeting. Levell then described the work he has been doing to bring in different kinds of individuals to meet with Trump.
"Pastor Darryl Scott, Mike Cohen, they are in the process of bringing all types of people from all over the country, all different backgrounds, like we have. Remember the diversity coalition where we reached out to all different types of people?" Levell shot back.
"Yeah, it's a bunch of mediocre negroes being dragged in front of TV as a photo-op for Donald Trump's exploitive campaign against black people. And you are the prime example of that," Hill responded.
The heated remarks caused the panel to divulge into a yelling match between the guests, which was finally stopped once Lemon intervened to quell the back and forth.