THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- Cenk Uygur accused CNN of defamation and demanded airtime after a panel condemned an ad blaming Israel for Americans’ grocery bills. The panel never mentioned Uygur by name.
- CNN’s Van Jones called the ad dangerous and hateful, Scott Jennings attacked its economic claims, and Michael Smerconish questioned whether it was actually designed to hurt the Democrat it supposedly supports.
- The ad was promoted by Uygur’s Rebellion PAC to support Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, whose campaign has distanced itself from the commercial.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
Cenk Uygur has a bone to pick with CNN. A very serious bone, apparently. He’s accusing the network of defamation, demanding airtime to defend himself and questioning its journalistic integrity.
There’s just one rather inconvenient detail.
Nobody on the CNN panel actually mentioned his name.
This is clearly defamatory. Is it @CNN policy to viciously smear someone and not allow them a defense? Do I get to say my piece on your air to counter this defamation or are you giving up any pretenses of objectivity?
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) October 27, 2026
The extraordinary complaint came Tuesday after a CNN NewsNight discussion about a controversial political advertisement from Rebellion PAC, the group founded by Uygur, co-host of The Young Turks.
The commercial, intended to support Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, features a couple shopping for groceries and complaining that American financial assistance to Israel is making everyday necessities unaffordable.
The woman tells her husband they cannot afford eggs because they must set aside money for “killing Palestinians.” The ad also suggests American taxpayers are footing the bill for Israeli health care.
The commercial sparked accusations of antisemitism from conservatives, Jewish organizations and fellow Democrats.
On CNN, Michael Smerconish was filling in for Abby Phillip when the discussion turned to the ad.
Van Jones, the liberal CNN commentator and former Obama adviser, was particularly forceful.
Jones said he wanted to apply the same standard to hatred directed at Muslims and Jews. He criticized the commercial for singling out Israel as the explanation for American grocery prices.
“This is a very dangerous ad,” Jones said.
He warned that portraying the Jewish state as responsible for ordinary Americans’ financial troubles invoked a historically dangerous form of scapegoating.
Jones called the message an example of anti-Jewish hatred and demanded that the commercial be removed.
He also wanted El-Sayed to condemn it.
Smerconish pointed out that the candidate’s campaign had distanced itself from the advertisement.
Jones wasn’t satisfied.
“They’ve distanced. They haven’t denounced it,” he responded.
And Smerconish had a theory of his own.
He said the advertisement was so objectionable that his initial reaction was to wonder whether it had been designed to help Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers by repelling voters from El-Sayed.
That’s quite an assessment of a commercial supposedly intended to elect the Democrat.
Then Scott Jennings joined the discussion.
The conservative CNN commentator called the commercial “economic incoherence wrapped up in anti-Semitism.”
Jennings disputed the grocery-price claims and criticized El-Sayed’s previous arguments linking American domestic spending priorities to military assistance for Israel.
He also questioned how Jewish Democratic voters in Michigan were supposed to respond to the candidate’s broader campaign messaging.
So there you have it. A liberal commentator, a conservative commentator and the guest host all finding serious problems with the same political advertisement.
And not one of them needed to say Cenk Uygur’s name.
But Uygur apparently decided the criticism was personal.
On Tuesday, he posted an angry message directed at CNN.
“This is clearly defamatory,” he declared.
He then demanded to know whether CNN permitted attacks without allowing the targets to defend themselves and asked for an opportunity to respond on the network.
The problem, as Mediaite’s Brad Slager pointed out in a sharply critical column, is that the panel did not identify Uygur or Rebellion PAC during its discussion.
Viewers heard an argument about the contents of a political advertisement, not an on-air accusation against Uygur personally.
Which makes the defamation complaint rather unusual. Uygur appears to have stepped forward to identify himself as the man behind the very commercial everyone was condemning.
And here’s another twist.
According to National Review, much of the controversial advertisement wasn’t even new. Uygur had circulated a version of it during his unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.
That helps explain why the commercial features a complaint about eggs costing $7 a dozen, despite considerably lower average prices in September 2026.
The updated version adds an attack on Rogers and a pitch for El-Sayed.
Uygur, meanwhile, has defended the commercial’s underlying argument that American taxpayers are providing too much assistance to Israel.
In a separate response to criticism, he declared, “If you think this ad is antisemitic, you’re in a cult and don’t know it.”
His PAC spokesperson, Kara Eastman, offered a similarly combative defense, arguing that critics were wrongly equating opposition to Israeli government policy with hatred of Jews.
But the controversy has created an awkward situation for the candidate the commercial was designed to help.
El-Sayed’s campaign insists it had nothing to do with producing the advertisement.
Spokesperson Roxie Richner said the campaign was not affiliated with the commercial, and the campaign emphasized that only El-Sayed and his own organization speak for the candidate.
That distinction has not satisfied several Democrats.
Rep. Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed defeated in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, condemned the commercial’s message and warned that it was damaging to Democrats.
Rep. Dan Goldman of New York also demanded a more forceful repudiation, arguing that El-Sayed should explicitly condemn the advertisement and call for its removal.
Even some Jewish Democrats supporting El-Sayed have criticized the commercial as politically destructive.
So Uygur finds himself defending an advertisement that the candidate it supports wants to keep at arm’s length, while accusing a television network of defaming him during a discussion in which his name never came up.
That’s an impressive amount of controversy to generate without receiving a single on-air mention.
And now he wants CNN to give him one.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).
- Mediaite — Cenk Uygur accuses CNN panel of defamation for ignoring his role in controversial ad (October 27)
- CNN — NewsNight official transcript featuring Van Jones, Scott Jennings and Michael Smerconish (October 26)
- Jewish Telegraphic Agency — El-Sayed campaign distances itself from Rebellion PAC advertisement
- Mediaite — Democrats and commentators condemn pro-El-Sayed advertisement
- Jewish Insider — Dan Goldman demands El-Sayed condemn advertisement
- National Review — Uygur’s ad revives material from his 2024 presidential campaign
