CNN hosts makes 'racist' comment to 12-year-old 2017 Spelling Bee winner

A CNN host, Alisyn Camerota, has come under attack after been accused of making what many people tagged a "racist" remark to 12-year-old Scripps Spelling Bee Champion Ananya Vinay who the host said likely misspelled a word on air because "its root is not in Sanskrit, which is what you're probably used to using." 

Alisyn Camerota made the comment, and Chris Cuomo jokingly asked her to spell 'covfefe,' what Ms Camerota called a "nonsense word."

Ananya, who is of Indian origin, was born and raised in Fresno, California and had just been named the 2017 champion the previous evening. An Indian-American child has won the competition every year since 2008, and Ananya is the 13th overall to do so. 

She won after a long back-and-forth challenge with runner-up Rohan Rajeev by spelling the word "marocain" correctly. She wins $40,000 which she said will go towards her university education.

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Tom + Lorenzo® @tomandlorenzo

.@AlisynCamerota She's probably used to Sanskrit? Shame on you and your ignorant, racist remark! The kid is from FRESNO, CALIFORNIA! @CNN https://twitter.com/JeremyMcLellan/status/871042165698416640 …

4:31 PM - 4 Jun 2017

 
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Ms Camerota corrected Ananya's spelling of the word and then said "so, I don't know. Anyway" after her Sanskrit comment.

CNN, which still has a pending class action lawsuit that alleges the network gives African-American employees lower performance ratings and pay inequality compared with other employees, has not responded to a request for comment on the matter. 

While Ms Camerota has not responded to the several tweets lambasting her for what they feel is a "racist" comment. 

See the video:

Racist @CNN thinks Sanskrit is the language spoken in Malayali homes. pic.twitter.com/0utPQzgIgr

— N.S. Madhavan (@NSMlive) June 4, 2017