CNN Analyst Areva Martin Scolds David Webb For 'White Privilege.' He's Black.

The gaffe, for which Martin apologized, happened in a conversation about job qualifications.
CNN legal analyst Areva Martin chided radio host David Webb for his "white privilege," but Webb is black.
CNN legal analyst Areva Martin chided radio host David Webb for his "white privilege," but Webb is black.
Maury Phillips via Getty Images

CNN legal analyst Areva Martin called out Fox News contributor David Webb for “white privilege” on Tuesday. Just one problem: Webb is black.

The embarrassing exchange happened on Webb’s SiriusXM radio show in a conversation about race and job qualifications.

“I’ve chosen to cross different parts of the media world, done the work so that I’m qualified to be in each one,” Webb, a host on Fox Nation, told Martin in the interview. “I never considered my color the issue; I considered my qualifications the issue.”

To which Martin, a civil rights attorney who co-hosts the syndicated talk show “Face the Truth,” responded: “Well, David, that’s a whole other long conversation about white privilege, the things that you have the privilege of doing, that people of color don’t have the privilege of.”

“How do I have the privilege of white privilege?” Webb asked.

“David, by virtue of being a white male you have white privilege. This whole long conversation, I don’t have time to get into — ”

“Areva, I hate to break it to you, but you should’ve been better prepped,” Webb interrupted. “I’m black.”

Webb tried to turn Martin’s gaffe into a teachable moment.

“You see, you went to white privilege; this is the falsehood in this,” Webb said. “You went immediately with an assumption. Your people, obviously, or you, didn’t look.”

Martin said she “was given wrong information” about Webb and apologized, but Webb said he remained insulted.

Webb later made light of the interview on Twitter.

And, of course, at least one prominent conservative chimed in.

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