CNN’s Abby Phillip Calls Out Fox News Over ‘Trump Dance’ Celebration Coverage

CNN host Abby Phillip has pointed out the hypocrisy of Fox News hosts celebrating athletes doing the Donald Trump dance despite their previous stance of keeping politics out of sports.

“Sports has never been politics-free, and they aren’t now,” Phillip said on NewsNight on Tuesday, November 19. “And just as an example, suddenly you’re seeing a lot of athletes doing this… their version of Donald Trump doing his version of Conan O’Brien’s string dance despite looking like a dad without much rhythm at a bar mitzvah.”

Phillip showed clips of athletes doing the Trump dance, including San Francisco 49ers player Nick Bosa, US soccer player Christian Pulisic, and Ultimate Fighting Championship star Jon Jones.

“Republicans have reveled in this culture war crossover,” Phillip continued before showing clips of Fox News hosts Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham praising these athletes for their “infectious courage.”

“The stigma has moved from MAGA to anti-MAGA,” Watters said on his show.

“If you’re wondering why does that seem so weird, it might be because you don’t have a short memory and remember when Republicans used to revile politics on the playing field,” Phillip added before throwing to a montage of Fox News anchors bashing athletes like Colin Kaepernick for supporting causes like Black Lives Matter on the field.

Prior to that, NFL star Tim Tebow’s on-field celebration, where he honored his Christian faith, became a phenomenon known as “Tebowing,” where he would drop to one knee in prayer on the field.

In one clip, Fox News correspondent Anita Vogul called for a “separation of sports and state,” while Ingraham told NBA players speaking out on political issues to “shut up and dribble.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure people are losing their minds over players doing the Trump dance on the field. It’s fine,” Phillip noted. “But they did lose their minds when NFL players like Colin Kaepernick did not take a political stance, but took a social justice stance; there’s a distinction between those two things. It is interesting that there’s been this big turnaround, it seems.”

CNN NewsNight, Weeknights, 10 pm et,  CNN