CNN Host Abruptly Ends Segment When Guest States Facts

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action, CNN host Abby Phillip abruptly ended a segment after her guest explained the facts about the negative effects of the practice.

On Thursday, fair admissions advocate Kenny Xu — who sits on the board of Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case — appeared on CNN with Phillip to discuss the historic ruling.

Xu began by explaining that individuals should be admitted to college based on their academic achievements, rather than the color of their skin.

“I think that admissions should be only based on merit,” he argued. “Why are we asking a university to calculate somebody’s level of diversity? I think that sets a very bad precedent for anybody trying to get into college. We should be treated on the basis of our merits. We should be treated on the basis of how hard we work, or study, our SAT scores, our grades.”

Phillip, like many on the left, was outraged over the Supreme Court’s ruling. Pushing back on Xu’s comments, she asked him why admissions boards shouldn’t be allowed to consider “other factors” that students “bring to the table” — such as their socio-economic background.

Xu responded by explaining to her that this would not be a fair method of admitting students to college — as it would inevitably lead to dismissing students with more privileged backgrounds even if they have better grades.

“We don’t want that,” he explained. “We want black students to succeed. We want every student to succeed, low-income students to succeed. But you have to put them in scenarios, in places where they are likely to succeed. And lowering your standard to admit somebody of a socio-economic status or race would not help you do that. In fact, you would harm their graduation rate and excellence.”

Phillip responded by falsely claiming that the standards aren’t lowered, but Xu refused to let her interrupt, and continued explaining the issue — including the effects that it has had on Asian Americans.

“The standard is lowered, as admissions data shows,” he argued. “Asians have to score 273 points higher in the SAT to have the same chance of admission as a black person. So, the standard is lowered for black Americans.”

Phillip seemingly understood that she had lost the argument and that he had successfully explained why affirmative action was dangerous and racist — as she immediately ended the segment.

“Kenny Xu, thank you for your perspective. Really appreciate you joining us today,” the CNN host said.

Xu was just one of many celebrating the end of affirmative action.

Several Twitter users marked the end of affirmative action by sharing the famous argument between Hoover Institute senior fellow Thomas Sowell and then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Nominee Robert Bork in 1987.

At the time, Sowell explained to the Senate that Black Americans were being “systematically mismatched with universities and the admissions process.”

“That is if Harvard feels that it must have X percent of blacks,” he continued. “And the pool is such that they can’t get X percent of blacks at the same level as the rest of the Harvard students, they’re going to take those blacks who would have succeeded in some state university and bring them to Harvard where many of them will fail.”

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