Arsalan Iftikhar's Thank You Letter To Don Lemon

Fox News anchors work heard to be ignorant and offensive. For Don Lemon, it just comes naturally. Lemon unsurprisingly placed his foot in his mouth when he asked Muslim civil rights attorney Arsalan Iftikhar if he supported ISIS.

“Again in August, 16 percent of French citizens support ISIS,” Lemon pressed. “Would you describe those who support ISIS as Islamic extremists? Do you support ISIS?”

The question stunned Iftikhar.

“Wait,” he replied. “Did you just ask me if I support ISIS? I just answered your question. I said that obviously these 16 percent of people support the ideology, but again, I don’t think that would necessarily extrapolate to supporting of killing of innocent people.”

Imagine asking a German civil rights lawyer if he supports the Nazi Party. That gives you an idea of how tasteless Lemon's question was to Iftikhar.

In Islamic Monthly, Iftikhar thanked Lemon in an open letter. Get ready for the snark.

“Now to be completely honest with you,” Iftikhar wrote, “I totally thought that I had misheard him because surely there was no respectable journalist in the world who would ask a Muslim human rights lawyer whether he supports an organization which violates human rights each and every day.”

“But then I remembered that I was dealing with Don Lemon,” he said.

Just reading that made me flinch. Iftikhar delivered a serious burn to Lemon. Unfortunately for Lemon, Iftikhar is just getting warmed up.

Iftikhar wrote, “In less than 24 hours, there were nearly 5,000 media articles written condemning Don Lemon for his asinine question in major publications such as BuzzFeed, Deadspin, The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today and more. Most of these articles called the ISIS question just the latest in a series of major Don Lemon on-air gaffes; including his previous theory about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 perhaps flying into a “black hole” or once asking an alleged Bill Cosby rape victim why she didn’t bite off the comedian’s penis whilst being allegedly raped by him.”

Iftikhar finishes off Lemon with these paragraphs.

“I can honestly say that I have never become more ‘famous’ than after this latest Don Lemon gaffe,” Iftikhar said, before implying that Lemon has perhaps brought enough embarrassment on CNN that he may be following the likes of Ed Henry over to a different news network.

“It is a sincere honor to be added to the litany of famous ‘Malaysian-black-hole-penis-biting’ Don Lemon media gaffes which can be added to his audition tape for his next job at FOX News Channel,” Iftikhar wrote.

“So from the bottom of my heart,” he concluded, “I want to publicly thank Don Lemon for making me famous with his patently offensive racist dumb-ass question.”

Let's recap Lemon's other lowlights.

Lemon was actually stupid enough to ask Mary Schiavo, the former Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation, if Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in a black hole. Lemon finds a way to trivialize a tragic plane disappearance.

Lemon projected blame on alleged Bill Cosby rape victim, Joan Tarshis, for not defending herself. If you wonder why more women don't come forward about being rape than just watch this interview.

Lemon: Can I ask you this, because—and please, I don't mean to be crude, OK?

Tarshis: Yeah.

Lemon: Because I know some of you—and you said this last night, that he—you lied to him and said, "I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you do—if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife."

Tarshis: Right.

Lemon: And you said he made you perform oral sex.

Tarshis: Right.

Lemon: You—you know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn't want to do it.

Tarshis: Oh. Um, I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn't even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have.

Lemon: Right. Meaning the using of the teeth, right?

Tarshis: Yes, that's what I'm thinking you're ...

Lemon: As a weapon.

Tarshis: Yeah, I didn't even think of it.

Lemon didn't have to ask that.

1969 Bill Cosby Date Rape Comedy Routine

Bill Cosby have come under public accusations of drugging and raping women. Andrea Constand accused Cosby of raping her when she was a teenager.

Over the years, I’ve struggled to get people to take my story seriously. So last month, when reporter Lycia Naff contacted me for an interview for the Daily Mail, I gave her a detailed account. I told her how Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone, where he had offered to mentor me and discuss the entertainment industry. When I came to, I was in my panties and a man’s t-shirt, and Cosby was looming over me. I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal. The final incident was in Atlantic City, where we had traveled for an industry event. I was staying in a separate bedroom of Cosby’s hotel suite, but he pinned me down in his own bed while I screamed for help. I’ll never forget the clinking of his belt buckle as he struggled to pull his pants off. I furiously tried to wrestle from his grasp until he eventually gave up, angrily called me “a baby” and sent me home to Denver.

A total of 13 woman have come forward with claims of being sexually assaulted by Cosby. The common theme in their stories is being drugged by Cosby. Technically, this comedy routine doesn't prove or disapprove the allegations against Cosby.

In 1969, Cosby did a comedy bit on drugging women with the mythical Spanish fly. Technically, this comedy routine doesn't prove or disapprove the allegations against Cosby. It does make me wonder why Cosby thought date rape was amusing.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Bill Cosby

Via Feministing: Stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress did a bit on alligations of Bill Cosby being a serial rapist. 13 women have accused Cosby of rape. Andrea Constand has brought a civil lawsuit against Cosby. That lawsuit was settled out of court.

What Cosby never mentioned was the civil lawsuit he settled just two days earlier with Andrea Constand, 32, a former Temple University employee who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. Constand's lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz ended up with 13 witnesses, most referred to in court documents as "Jane Does," who came forward voluntarily with strikingly similar claims of drugging and or abuse by Cosby. Terms of the settlement, reached before any of the women could testify, were not disclosed. But PEOPLE reporters have interviewed five of the women and share three of their stories now.

Cosby defenders can say why didn't these women press charges? The other view is if Cosby is innocent why settle? If true this is highly unsettling. Barbara Bowman says she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby.

A month or two later, she was in Atlantic City and says she was given another glass of red wine and felt "completely doped up again." Confused, Bowman somehow made it back to her room, but the next day Cosby summoned her to his suite. After she arrived, Bowman says, Cosby "threw me on the bed and braced his arm under my neck so I couldn't move my head, and he started trying to take his clothes off. I remember all the clinking of his belt buckle. And he was trying to take my pants down, and I was trying to keep them on." Bowman says that not long after she resisted the assault, Cosby cut off contact with her and had her escorted to the airport for a flight back to Denver. She didn't tell authorities about what happened, but she did approach an attorney who "wouldn't take it seriously," says Margo Singagliese, 52, the friend who went with her to see the lawyer.

This is something to think about the next time you hear Cosby lecturing others on the standards and morality.