Former CNN host Don Lemon criticized parishioners who were upset by his presence in their church alongside agitators, saying they could not understand he was merely attending as a journalist. 

In January, a group of agitators interrupted a worship service at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, over suggestions that the church was affiliated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell described the incident as an “ambush” and said agitators were screaming in children’s faces. Parnell said cameras were shoved in his face and he lost sight of his wife, children, and congregation. 

Former CNN host Don Lemon has pleaded “not guilty” to federal charges related to his presence at the church. Lemon has denied wrongdoing and argued he was there as a journalist protected by the First Amendment. He spoke about the controversy in a Wednesday interview with liberal journalist and podcaster Jim Acosta.

Acosta said he was surprised as to why parishioners were viewing Lemon as a disruption rather than a journalist.

“I don’t know. It’s weird because they kept saying it, even when I told them that I’m not. And I think they were looking at me and, because the bulk of the protesters were Black, maybe they thought because I’m Black, that and I kept saying, ‘I’m not a protester. I’m here covering the protest. I’m not with them.’”

He continued, noting, “They were, you know, they just for some reason could not understand. And I just I had to keep telling them that I’m not part of the group. I’m just here photographing, and I would say chronicling or whatever it is. And that’s it, Jim. So why they couldn’t figure that out, I don’t know.”

Acosta then added, “Even when you’re talking to the pastor, you know, that did not seem like a heated confrontation or anything. You just — you’re talking to him.”

During the confrontation, the pastor politely said that disrupting the church was unacceptable, to which Lemon argued they had a right to be there thanks to the First Amendment. Lemon questioned the pastor, asking, “Don’t you think Jesus would be understanding and love these folks?” When the pastor said he was focused on spreading the love of Jesus, Lemon pressed again, more intensely, “But did you try to talk to them? As a Christian?”

When he was asked to leave, Lemon began his next sentence with “You don’t want us to — “

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY STUDENT WHO ‘ASSISTED DON LEMON’ CHARGED IN FEDERAL CHURCH-STORMING CASE

Lemon agreed with Acosta’s claim that his encounter with the pastor was not a heated confrontation. 

“It wasn’t heated. He stood there and talked to me for a long time,” Lemon said. “I will just say in this, the video speaks for itself.” 

“They can as they can try to do, as they did with Renee Good, as they did with Alex Pretti. They can try to get people to believe something other than what they’re seeing with their eyes and hearing with their ears, and that’s what they will try to do,” he said. “But I think that I think the video is — tells you everything, that I was there doing what I’m — I was there doing journalism, which is what I was supposed to be doing, which is what I went there to do, and that’s it.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Cities Church in St. Paul for comment about Lemon’s latest comments and Jonathan Parnell, lead pastor at Cities Church responded, “On Jan. 18, just as I was about to read from John 13 on Jesus’s command to love one another, a mob stormed into the house of God, a place of peace and refuge, and defiled it with rage. Many in our congregation fled, believing it to be an active shooter situation. The agitators accosted our people, terrified our children, and would not leave the sanctuary when asked. They gloated about shutting down our worship of Jesus. Everyone who invaded Cities Church that day was in on the terror.”

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