MSNBC Denounces Fox Criticism of Al Sharpton

Execs at MSNBC recently attempted to refute Sean Hannity’s claim that their host Rev. Al Sharpton “rushed to judgment” in the case of George Zimmerman who was arrested in April for the shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

During his July 18 interview of the accused Zimmerman, Sean Hannity said that Al Sharpton and others rushed to judgment, spreading “misinformation” about the case before anyone could even ascertain any facts about the incident.

Look at what happened in this case because it became so public. Spike Lee is tweeting out what he thinks is your home address, the Reverend Al Sharpton and NBC News tries to use this case to bring up the issue of racial profiling. What do you say to Spike Lee? — didn’t know the facts of the case, they hadn’t been revealed — what do you say to Al Sharpton and those who rushed to judgment? What do you think their motives were?

For his part Zimmerman felt that those that made accusations and assertions about the case before any facts could emerge owed him an apology.

But on Friday, July 20, MSNBC announced that there would be no apology because their man, Al Sharpton, didn’t rush to judgment.

“MSNBC would like to set the record straight following some misinformation presented by Fox News during the interview with George Zimmerman last night,” MSNBC wrote in a statement sent to POLITICO. “Reverend Al Sharpton never ‘rushed to judgment,’ as stated by Mr. Hannity. Reverend Sharpton repeatedly called for calm and for a more thorough investigation in the wake of the tragic events. Ultimately, the authorities agreed an arrest was warranted.”

This rebuttal by MSNBC is curious because Sharpton was not only one of the first to beat the drum for Zimmerman’s arrest, but he even went down to Florida, interjected himself into the lives of the victim’s family, and also appeared standing next to them as they made family statements to the press.

It seems very much like he picked a side and made a judgment long before all the facts were known.