This Political Commentator Stood Up to a Man Telling Her to "Shut Up" About Charlottesville

Yet again, another white man tried to silence a woman of color and had to learn, once more, that it isn't an acceptable form of behavior. Ken Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia, and Symone Sanders, a CNN political commentator, were on CNN discussing President Donald Trump's lackluster response to the neo-Nazi and white supremacist march that ended with three people dead. However, as Sanders spoke, Cuccinelli continued to interrupt her. When CNN host Chris Cuomo asked Cuccinelli to explain what he was arguing for, Sanders interrupted once, to which Cuccinelli responded with, "Can I finish, Symone? Will you just shut up for a minute and let me finish? God bless America!" Needless to say, Sanders immediately called out Cuccinelli, as did Cuomo.

In the clip ahead, Sanders told Cuccinelli, "Pardon me, sir, you don't get to tell me to shut up on national television. Under no circumstances do you get to speak to me in that manner. You should exhibit some decorum." Cuomo then intervened and said, "Ken, you don't want to use language like that when you're talking to Symone. You can disagree, but you don't talk like that on this show. You know better than that, Ken." Cuccinelli continued to dig himself into a bigger hole and said he needed to "stand up" for himself and asked, "Then how do you make them stop talking when they keep interrupting you?" Sanders, rightly so, took offense to being grouped as "them," and Cuomo once again apologized to Sanders for Cuccinelli's language.

Cuccinelli eventually apologized later on in the show and called Sanders on the phone afterward as well, reports The Washington Post. "As someone who would like more civil discussion, I need to make sure that I try to contribute to that effort," he told The Washington Post. He said Sanders "appreciated" the call.

Sanders offered up her thoughts on the whole debate to HuffPost. "I'm not there to be disrespected, I'm not there to be personally attacked or dismissed," she said to HuffPost. "I highly doubt if I were a white man he would be telling me to shut up."

It's time for Cuccinelli and any other men who believe interrupting women is a good tactic to learn it's not, and women won't stop fighting back.