ADVERTISEMENT

CNN Contributor Apologizes After Falsely Accusing College Sports Fan of Anti-Semitism

Hilary Rosen / Getty Images
December 18, 2017

CNN political commentator Hilary Rosen is receiving backlash after she called a Georgetown University sports fan anti-Semitic for wearing a bacon suit at a rivalry basketball game against Syracuse University on Saturday.

Rosen, a Democratic strategist, publicly accused the fan of anti-Semitism on Twitter for his bacon suit, but has since deleted her tweet, the New York Post reported.

"Look at the guy in the 'bacon suit,'" Rosen wrote. "This is a Georgetown #Hoyas fans anti-Semitic smear to the Syracuse team."

Rosen then sent out a second tweet after Syracuse won 86-79 in overtime, writing, "Hey bacon-man. #Syracuse for the win. Bigots lose. Bye #Hoyas #Cuse."

It turns out that the Georgetown fan, Michael Bakan, regularly wears the bacon suit because his last name is pronounced like the non-Kosher meat.

After the game and later in the day, Bakan and several of his friends responded to Rosen on Twitter, calling the suit a "fun costume."

"Hey, it's 'bacon man.' It's actually Mr. Bakan—pronounced 'bacon.' Just a fun costume," Bakan tweeted at Rosen.

Rosen then apologized to Bakan for her original tweets, saying that she "got some bad info."

"Awesome, u found me!" she tweeted at Bakan. "Thanks for telling me. I'm new to this school rivalry and got some bad info! I apologize and took down my tweet."

The Post noted that Rosen did not clarify what "bad info" she got about the Syracuse-Georgetown rivalry or its connection with Judaism.

Bakan did not appear too rattled by Rosen's accusations.