CNN host Anderson Cooper faced conservative backlash Wednesday for accidentally misgendering a town hall attendee.
Cooper called on an audience member to ask a question to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“I want to introduce Grace Thomas,” Cooper said. “She’s a local civil rights attorney. She’s a Democrat. Grace?”
“They/them pronouns, actually,” Thomas said. “Thank you.”
“Oh,” Cooper replied.
Right-wing users tried to use the innocent moment to taunt Cooper on X, formerly Twitter.
Riley Gaines, a Donald Trump ally and former swimmer who wrote a Fox News opinion piece titled “Why I swim against the current of the gender identity cult,” snarked: “Calling for Anderson Cooper’s immediate resignation for believing what his eyes were telling him he saw. Bigot.”
“Wow, what a bigot,” Trending Politics co-owner Colin Rugg chimed in.
Commentator Todd Starnes also joined the pile-on.
“Oh, dear! Gay Anderson Cooper misgenders a ‘they/them’ on national television. #oopsie,” he wrote.
Even a Jan. 6 ex-convict who livestreamed his invasion of the Capitol popped off.
“You can’t make this up,” wrote Derrick Evans, who lost a bid for the House of Representatives last year.
A rep for Anderson did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
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