CNN came under fire on Monday after its anchor John King said there were “risks” in putting forward Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee because “he’s Jewish.”
“He’s certainly under consideration,” King said on CNN on Sunday night, referencing discussions with allies of Vice President Kamala Harris.
He then added, “He’s a first-term governor, he’s Jewish, there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket, but certainly some of our voters here in Pennsylvania said, ‘Hey, we like Gov. Shapiro, give him a look.'”
It is not clear what prompted the remarks by King, who announced plans to convert to Judaism in 2008, but they were nevertheless criticized by Jewish groups and individuals.
The StopAntisemitism organization shared a video of King’s comments to its X account and wrote, “Replace ‘Jewish’with ‘Muslim’ or ‘Black’ …”
“CNN POV: Being almost any minority group in politics is historic and a milestone. Being Jewish in politics is ‘risky and controversial,'” wrote Jaboc Helberg, a senior adviser at Palantir.
The CEO of the International Legal Forum, Arsen Ostrovsky, said, “It says a lot about the state of American politics, and perhaps especially in progressive circles, that one of the ‘cons’ of Kamala Harris selecting Gov. Josh Shapiro as her VP, is that he is Jewish and the pushback this might receive.”
Shapiro is an observant Conservative (Masorti) Jew who keeps kosher and sends his children to Jewish schools but is not believed to be Shabbat observant, according to The Jewish Chronicle.