Jillian Michaels to CNN Panel: Everything Is Racialized Just Like What You’re Trying to Do with Me Now

ROGINSKY: “I think Donald Trump signals what he‘s going to do. It‘s also part of a larger thing here. He‘s trying to change culture generally. He‘s gone into the Smithsonian. He effectively now has some random person deciding what is appropriate for the Smithsonian to teach in terms of American history, things that don‘t offend parts of the MAGA base, right? So we‘re now literally reviewing parts of American history and parts of American culture to make sure it comports with dear leader and what the MAGA — “
MICHAELS: “Can we address some of those things that are in there? Because — have you looked at some of the things that are being reviewed?”
ROGINSKY: “Yes. Slavery was a bad thing and we need to talk about it. Excuse me for saying that.”
MICHAELS: “He‘s not whitewashing slavery. So — “
ROGINSKY: “He‘s not?”
MICHAELS: “He‘s not. No, he‘s not. And you cannot tie imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race, which is pretty much what every single exhibit does. But let‘s talk about the fact that when you look — “
ROGINSKY: “You can’t tie slavery — you can’t tie slavery to — “
TORRES: “Slavery in America was — “
MICHAELS: “Do you know it’s only less than 2% of white Americans owned slaves?”
TORRES: “But it was a system of white supremacy.”
MICHAELS: “Do you realize that slavery is thousands of years old?”
TORRES: “White people — “
MICHAELS: “Do you know who was the first race to try to end slavery?”
TORRES: “I didn’t realize that was controversial.”
MICHAELS: “Well, what‘s controversial is — “
PHILLIP: “I‘m very surprised — “
TORRES: “This is an extraordinary exercise in historical revisionism.”
MICHAELS: “Historical revisionism? Do you realize that — “
PHILLIP: “I‘m surprised that you‘re trying to litigate who was the beneficiary of slavery and who was not.”
MICHAELS: “I‘m not. What I‘m trying to tell you is that — “
PHILLIP: “In the context of American history — in the context of American history, what are you saying is incorrect by saying that it was white people oppressing black people?”
MICHAELS: “What I’m saying is you cannot — every single thing is like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, this is all because white people bad.’ And that‘s just not the truth. Like, for example, every single exhibit, I have a list of every single one, like, people migrated from Cuba because white people bad, not because of Castro. Yes, no, it‘s in there. That‘s what I‘m saying. You don‘t actually know what‘s in there. Do you know that when you walk in the front door, the first thing you see is the gay flag — “
PHILLIP: “Jillian, what exactly — hold on, Jillian, you have a lot of stuff in — “
MICHAELS: “Yeah, I do, because I don‘t — because here‘s thing.”
PHILLIP: “What are you talking about.”
MICHAELS: “Okay, I‘ll give you an example.”
PHILLIP: “Yeah, please.”
MICHAELS: “There‘s one called ‘Change Your Game,’ right? This has been an installation there. ‘Is gender testing fair in sports?’ Does that — and then it goes on to talk about how it‘s complex to do gender testing in sports. It‘s not complex. It‘s basic science. That‘s untrue. It‘s XX chromosome, XY chromosome. That‘s sports. Is it fair to have biological men competing against biological women in sports? No. But why is this in the Smithsonian? So it‘s — it‘s been completely captured — “
PHILLIP: “Look, first of all, I don‘t — “
MICHAELS: “ — and it‘s totally partisan.”
PHILLIP: “First of all, we don‘t have time to litigate all of this — “
MICHAELS: “Of course we don‘t, because then you‘re going to lose the argument.”
PHILLIP: “No, no. Here’s what — “
MICHAELS: “And everything is racialized, just like you‘re trying to do to me now.”
PHILLIP: “Excuse me?”
MICHAELS: “It‘s like, ‘I can‘t believe you‘re trying to suggest that slavery...’”
PHILLIP: “Just to be clear, you brought up race.”
MICHAELS: “No.”
PHILLIP: “This was a conversation about the arts, and you brought up race.”
MICHAELS: “It isn‘t though.
PHILLIP: “You brought up — “
MICHAELS: “But the whole point of this is that the issue — “
PHILLIP: “Hold on, hold on. You brought up — you brought up slavery, and you brought up the question of whether — “
MICHAELS: “Actually, you did.”
PHILLIP: “And you brought up the question of whether or not slavery in the United States is about race. The answer is yes.”
MICHAELS: “No, I didn’t. I did not say that.”
PHILLIP: “Slavery in the United States is about race.”
MICHAELS: “Don’t strawman my argument, because that‘s not what I said.”
PHILLIP: “So what are you talking about?”
MICHAELS: “She brought up slavery. And what I was talking about is that this isn‘t really about that. When you make every single exhibit about white imperialism, when it isn‘t relevant at all, that is a problem. So when you‘re talking about Cubans leaving Cuba and you make it about white people bad, that‘s not accurate. That‘s my point.”