CNN anchor and reporter Manu Raju confronted Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner on his controversial comments about rape victims, which are now being used against him in political ads in Maine.
The Bangor Daily Express first reported in October Platner posted on Reddit in 2013 that people need to “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f*cked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” Those comments are now being called out in an ad from Gov. Janet Mills (D), who is running against Platner to represent the Pine Tree State.
Raju on Sunday played a clip of him confronting Platner about those remarks a few days earlier.
“I wonder, though, if you think how damaging this thing might be politically, because, you know, I read those posts and, you know, they’re bad. Those posts are terrible,” Raju said.
Platner essentially said it was old news that didn’t matter anymore.
“I’ve gone all over the state of Maine and allowed people to ask me about it all directly, for months now,” Platner said. “And it is I think for a lot of folks in the state, to see this get kind of dragged back up months and months after we’d already talked about it — I will just say, the feedback we have received statewide is that people find all of this to be everything they hate about politics.”
He then said the response has been “more damaging” than his actual comment. Platner added his views on sexual assault have “transformed” and “changed” over time.
“So you regret those posts?” Raju followed up.
“Oh, of course. I mean, I’ve said, I don’t know how many [times], Yes, deeply. But… I was at a time in my life where I was really struggling after I’d come back from my combat deployments,” Platner replied. “I was very isolated, very alone, very disillusioned, very angry. And I think like a lot of people, I went on the internet to find some form of community or serotonin boost.”
This is not the only controversy that has dogged Platner’s campaign — the former Marine was recently confronted by MS NOW’s Elise Jordan about the “Nazi tattoo” he had on his chest.
Watch above via CNN.
The post ‘Those Posts are Terrible!’ CNN’s Manu Raju Confronts Democratic Senate Hopeful About Controversial Past Remarks On Rape first appeared on Mediaite.