Will the real Pat Robertson please stand up? The pro-police veteran televangelist Robertson recently called for police to stop the killings.
When asked about the police murder of 20-year-old Daunte Wright at the hands of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who it is believed meant to use her Taser on Wright, not her gun, Robertson was critical of police, Yahoo reported.
“If you can’t tell the difference in the feel of those things, it’s crazy,” and Potter “deserves” the consequences, Robertson said on the April 15 airing of his TV program the “700 Club.” Holding both a handgun and a Taser in his hands, Robertson said, “You know, I am pro-police, folks. I think we need the police, we need their service, and they do a good job, but if they don’t stop this onslaught, they cannot do this.”
Robertson then shifted his thoughts on Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is currently on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
“And the thing that’s going on in Minnesota about that Derek Chauvin — I mean, they ought to put him under the jail, he has caused so much trouble by kneeling on the death of George Floyd, I mean on his neck — it’s just terrible what’s happening.”
Robertson continued, “We don’t have the finest in the police department. They’re low-paid people…[we need to hire a] more superior workforce…we cannot have a bunch of clowns running around who are underpaid and who really are not the best and brightest.”
People expressed shock on Twitter at Robertson’s seemingly evolved view on police.
Kamau Bell, host of CNN’s “United Shades of America,” tweeted, “Who had “Woke Pat Robertson” on their 2021 bingo card?”
Another person questioned, “Who possessed Pat Robinson?!?”
Robertson wasn’t always sympathetic to the victims of police killings. In 2014, when unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, Robertson asserted that Brown was “probably high on something” and “charged the police officer,” Raw Story reported.
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“The facts aren’t totally clear,” he said at the time. “But this great big guy — this gentle giant, they call him — went into a convenience store where he wanted some cigars. So, he stole some cigars. And when the clerk tried to stop him, he pushed the clerk aside, pushed him down, and walked out into the middle of the street.”
He added, “Now, was he high on some kind of drugs?…So then, did this giant man charge the police officer, and the police officer tried to defend himself?” It doesn’t seem like there was some kind of wonton act of assassination or execution. That just doesn’t fit the pattern.”
