CNN’s #AskACop Promo Gone Wrong: “Are All Laws Worth Murdering Over?”

On Tuesday, CNN asked Twitter users to use #AskACop to present questions to police officers.

You can only imagine how this went, especially if you happened to see the outcome of the #MyNYPD Twitter campaign earlier this year. That Twitter hashtag brought a flurry of NYPD-related police brutality Tweets, and led to the launch of other hashtags:

Currently building #MyLAPD #myChicagoPD #MyNOPD #myAPD #myMiamiPD #MyHPD #MyOPD #myAPDstory #myNYPD because we all have a common struggle.

— Copwatch (@Copwatch) April 23, 2014

Oops. Probably NOT the result the NYPD was looking for. And surely those other police departments didn’t appreciate the subsequent frenzy of police brutality pictures from THEIR departments being blasted throughout the Twitterverse.

Last month, CNN itself bore the brunt of protesters’ wrath during their live broadcast from Ferguson, when their news anchor was interrupted by large marching crowds chanting “F*ck CNN!”

So one can’t help but wonder just what the heck CNN was thinking when they started their #AskACop hashtag.

CNN said “the idea was that the network would use that hashtag to mine social media for questions to ask current and former police officers for a show that aired Tuesday night.”

Tonight at 10 on @CNNTonight #CopsUnderFire. What's your question to our police panel? Use hashtag #AskACop pic.twitter.com/PUsWOPi90s

— Don Lemon (@donlemon) December 16, 2014

And questions they got.

Y'all, please shut down #AskACop. Ask for facts and an explanation of why we're being executed by the police. pic.twitter.com/gygukiJXty

— deray mckesson (@deray) December 17, 2014

#AskACop Will you be undergoing more training on how to murder innocent black people, I hear there are some still alive? @CNN

— Pukkah Punjabi (@PukkahPunjabi) December 16, 2014

Pop quiz: are these guns? #AskACop pic.twitter.com/WherY2PbHx

— Jane Belfry (@janemagnitude) December 17, 2014

#Askacop I have a math question: if 1 Black man has zero guns, zero knives and 2 hands, how many bullets does it take to disarm him?

— Jamilah Lemieux (@JamilahLemieux) December 17, 2014

Did you ask this handcuffed lady if she wanted to taste your boot before inserting it in her mouth? #AskACop pic.twitter.com/lny9rTlWON

— Alisa M (@AlisasGotIt) December 17, 2014

how is this NOT a chokehold? #AskACop @CNN pic.twitter.com/tgBSPRzT94

— Slim Thickens (@MissSneed) December 17, 2014

Do you see how these threatening tweets from an @SanJosePD officer inspire community mistrust? #AskACop @CNN pic.twitter.com/vX2S2nS3eB

— sfpelosi (@sfpelosi) December 17, 2014

#AskACop Why do you have higher rate of domestic violence from male cops than male civilians yet you'll harm WoC and their abusers on calls?

— Trudy (@thetrudz) December 17, 2014

#AskACop if he brags to his wife and kids after arresting someone for feeding the homeless

— Shawn C's the #Truth (@ShawnSt51128037) December 18, 2014

#AskACop if it safe for anyone on the streets now that they are threatened even by drunk White women and brutalize them as well!

— ShadowBard (@ShadowBard) December 18, 2014

Do you have to be born with an overwhelming sense of self-righteousness to be a cop, or do they teach that at the academy? #AskACop

— Hermes Conrad (@Momoeroticism) December 18, 2014

#AskACop If there are so many "good cops" how come those good cops won't speak out against the bad ones?

— Erica (@prettybrownE86) December 18, 2014

#AskACop Is there a competition to see how many murders can go un-indicted among you guys? What's the prize? You can tell me.

— Dominique Christina (@nyarloka) December 18, 2014

Why is this ok? Calif. cop won't be charged despite stashing seized marijuana at home and lying about it http://t.co/IcP2nEtlIY #AskACop

— Brock Talk Radio (@brocktalkradio) December 17, 2014

Why don't you go back to being Public Servants instead of an Army of Occupation? #AskACop pic.twitter.com/EkyqA5b6Pq

— Ian56 (@Ian56789) December 17, 2014

Why don't you stop stealing innocent ppl's money? Stop Civil Forfeiture #AskACop http://t.co/QPNXkOVIov https://t.co/AMYS44PqAu

— Ian56 (@Ian56789) December 17, 2014

And my personal favorite…

#AskACop do you ever question the laws you are tasked to enforce? Or do you just blindly follow orders? Are all laws worth murdering over?

— Monkey O'Liberty! (@Cdubs717) December 17, 2014

(H/T to RT)