Columbus native Franklin Leonard makes appearance as ‘CNN Tonight’ guest commentator

The ascension of film and television producer Franklin Leonard from his Columbus childhood to national prominence reached a new height last week.

Leonard, a 1996 graduate of Brookstone School and the Ledger-Enquirer’s Page One Awards winner in math that year, was among four guest commentators on the May 3 edition of “CNN Tonight,” the 10-11 p.m. TV news program hosted by Alisyn Camerota.

As the founder and CEO of the Black List, Leonard has helped more than 400 previously unproduced scripts gain the exposure needed to become feature films since 2005. Those movies have totaled 250 Academy Award nominations and 50 wins, including four for Best Picture (“Spotlight,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” and “Argo”).

Appearing with Leonard on “CNN Tonight” as guest commentators were: Van Lathan, host of the “Higher Learning” podcast on the Ringer; Mike DuHaime, former political director of the Republican National Committee; and Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House communications director for former President Donald Trump.

They discussed several controversial news topics. Here are highlights of Leonard’s comments:

New York subway chokehold homicide

On the chokehold death of a homeless man in a New York subway, Leonard said, “I think we have to be brutally honest about what that seems to be, a man on the subway was yelling about not having any food, not having any water, that he would prefer to be in jail and was ready to die.

“Another passenger snuck up behind him and put him in a chokehold and held him down and choked the life out of him, while other passengers appeared to have done nothing. Although one did hold his hands down so that he couldn’t resist.

“There was no attempt ostensibly to talk to the man, to offer him assistance. People didn’t escape the subway train to avoid what, you know, danger they thought might exist.”

Later in the discussion, Camerota noted, despite the medical examiner ruling the death a homicide, no criminal charges had been filed.

“I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anybody who’s paying attention, right, like we are talking about a Black victim killed by a white man,” Leonard said. “There are many, many cases of that happening and no immediate prosecution until there’s an outcry from the public.

“. . . If you look at sort of the way in which Hollywood and the way in which the media generally has characterized Black people in America going back to the birth of the film industry, with ‘The Birth of a Nation,’ this has been a common theme.

“And the consequence of that is the perception of Black men as violent, the perception of Black men as dangerous, and that’s how you end up with Trayvon and a kid getting shot for going to the wrong door and a young man saying I don’t have food and water, I’d rather die, I’d rather be in prison, and someone choking him to death over multiple minutes.”

Tucker Carlson’s firing

In the aftermath of Fox’s firing of popular host Tucker Carlson, the New York Times reported that a text Carlson sent to his producer described video of Trump supporters beating up someone he described as “an Antifa kid” – and Carlson said in the text that he found himself rooting for the mob to kill the kid and that, “Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight.”

Leonard said, “I don’t think anybody should be surprised that this is who Tucker is. I mean, yes, this is something that he communicated in private via text message, but it’s very much in keeping with all the things that he says publicly. And I think when somebody tells you who they are over and over again for decades, maybe believe them. . . . This is just confirmation and I think, you know, Tucker is going to be who he is going to be. I just hope we don’t have to listen to him anymore.”

‘Culture wars’ about high school musicals and plays

The panel discussed a Pennsylvania school board prohibiting a high school from performing “The Addams Family” musical because of its “dark themes” and several other high school productions being canceled because they have LGBTQ characters.

Camerota: “I was in all of my high school musicals, and there’s nothing more wholesome. There’s nothing more wholesome because you’re going for hours after school and you’re dancing and singing with your classmates.”

Lathan: “Yeah, with the most asexual group of people in your entire school.”

Leonard: “I’m not sure that’s true, actually. I think that’s the perception if you’re not part of it, from what I know, from my friends who were, asexual is not a word that they would use to describe themselves.”

On a more serious note, Leonard later added, “ I think what this really is a sort of full, frontal attack on the LGBTQ community. And you know, we’re seeing it everywhere and the idea fundamentally is, let’s remove all traces of their existence from the education system so that we can continue to do terrible things to the people that are members of it in school and outside of school.”

The story behind Franklin Leonard’s appearance on CNN

In an emailed interview Monday with the Ledger-Enquirer, Leonard explained that a CNN producer messaged him on Twitter earlier this year about being a guest commentator.

“I had no plans to be in New York City,” said Leonard, who lives in California, “but when work took me there last week, I reached out and let them know.”

Leonard has been on MSNBC and CNBC to speak during segments about topics related to Hollywood or race, but this was his first extended appearance for a full hour on a news program about such a variety of political subjects.

“Being on live, national television is always anxiety inducing, if for no other reason than fear of making a fool of yourself by getting information factually wrong or, you know, sneezing,” he said. “Any time I’ve speaking with a large audience, I feel a responsibility to tell the truth and tell it plain, and there’s always, therefore, the fear that you’ll fail to do that.”

Nonetheless, he feels good about his performance.

“I think it went well,” he said. “The feedback from people whose opinion matters to me has been universally positive though there’s always a barrage of racist email that hits my inbox within minutes of any appearance like that.”

Leonard doesn’t feel good, however, about one of the news events that preceded his appearance on the show and prompted discussion.

“It was a tough day, falling immediately after the killing of Jordan Neely on the subway,” he said. “This was a man who was asking for food and water and upset at the misery of his lot in life. A man snuck up behind him and choked the life out of him over fifteen minutes.

“No one stopped to help, and at least (one) person held his arms down so that he couldn’t resist. No one offered him assistance. No one sought to step between him and the people who were supposedly scared by his presence. He was sucker-choked, and died as a result. And the man who did it was excused and in some quarters treated like a hero. I don’t understand it, and it should deeply concern us all.”