It was an ugly incident, dealt with promptly and appropriately, Republican National Convention organizers say.
According to CNN, two convention-goers were tossed from the event Tuesday afternoon after they threw peanuts at a black camera operator from CNN, telling her, "This is how we feed animals.''
"Multiple witnesses observed the exchange and RNC security and police immediately removed the two people from the Tampa Bay Times Forum,'' CNN reported.
The news agency said the matter was addressed and that CNN had no further comment.
According to The Huffington Post, convention organizers condemned the incident in a statement, saying, "Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated."
This comes as Republicans are being criticized for the convention's lack of diversity.
"I didn't see many chocolate chips in the cookie they were baking,'' Tampa Bay Times media critic Eric Deggans blogged last night on The Feed.
"In other words, as images were projected on massive video screens behind both speakers, I didn't recall seeing many people of color. they probably were there, but in the hour I watched, they didn't seem to come up much,'' Deggans wrote.
He noted the peanut-throwing incident and CNN's lack of desire to discuss it.
"But with no details on who the people were, why the altercation started or whether this cameraman had had any other problems, it's tough to know the full scope of this story (I can say that I haven't had that kind of problem at the RNC and haven't spoken to any other black folks who have.)
"Wonder if CNN would accept that kind of answer from any subjects of their stories?''
Good question.
