Title:
CNN: Stop Platforming Ignorance on Slavery and Race

Summary (above the fold):
CNN gave Jillian Michaels airtime to defend Donald Trump’s Smithsonian review — and she responded by minimizing slavery and dismissing conversations about racism. This isn’t about one celebrity’s ignorance. It’s about CNN choosing spectacle over truth, forcing anchors like Abby Phillip to clean up misinformation in real time. History deserves experts, not entertainers.

Petition Text:

On August 14, 2025, CNN handed its platform to a celebrity trainer to weigh in on American history — and the result was ignorance, distortion, and harm broadcast to millions.

In defending Donald Trump’s efforts to strip the Smithsonian of what he calls “anti-American” exhibits, Jillian Michaels minimized slavery, claiming “only 2% of white Americans owned slaves,” and dismissed conversations about race as a moment where “White people are bad.” Her words weren’t just wrong — they recycled denialist talking points long used to minimize slavery and erase Black suffering.

This is not about Jillian Michaels alone. The larger issue is CNN’s editorial choice: putting an entertainer with no historical expertise on a panel about U.S. history and racial politics. CNN made a choice to value spectacle over truth. That choice put Abby Phillip — a Black woman anchor — in the impossible position of correcting misinformation in real time, while millions of viewers were exposed to it unchallenged.

The facts are not up for debate. In 1860, nearly one-third of white families in the South enslaved Black people. In Mississippi and South Carolina, that number approached half. Slavery enriched northern banks, insurers, and shipping companies as well. It was not fringe. It was foundational.

Platforming voices who deny or distort these truths is not journalism. It is reckless, and it undermines public trust in CNN itself.

We call on CNN to:

Stop inviting unqualified celebrities to panels about slavery, race, and American history.

Commit to featuring historians, scholars, and subject-matter experts on discussions about the Smithsonian, slavery, and systemic racism.

Support its anchors and moderators by structuring panels around expertise, not entertainment and denial.

The irony is stark: Jillian Michaels’ distortion of slavery while defending Trump’s attack on the Smithsonian proves exactly why institutions like the Smithsonian are indispensable. This is exactly why Trump targets them — and why CNN cannot become his megaphone. Journalism should protect history, not hand it over to entertainers and denialists.  We demand CNN stop platforming ignorance on slavery and race.

History deserves honesty. The American people deserve truth. Abby Phillip and her colleagues deserve better.