A royal commentator has claimed African kings should cough up money for slavery reparations and not the British Royal Family,
CNN host Don Lemon quizzed Hilary Fordwich about the topic and her answer stunned the TV host into silence.
Lemon touched on the Royal Family's 'vast wealth', before suggesting the Royal Family should be made to pay reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
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We'll bet he did not see Fordwich's answer coming.
She asked: "What they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain, where was the beginning of the supply chain?"
"That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place. Which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation in the world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British."
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But she wasn't done.
Fordwich continued: "In Great Britain, they abolished slavery. Two thousand Naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them in cages waiting on the beaches, no one was running into Africa to get them."
Lemon sat while she spoke in what looked like a stunned silence.
She continued, telling the CNN host: "I think you’re totally right. If reparations needs to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ‘who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages?' That’s where they should start."
She added that the families who died at seas trying to stop slavery - so, British descendants - should receive compensation as well.
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Lemon cut the interview there, telling her it was an 'interesting discussion' before moving on.
For the record, Haiti was the first nation to abolish slavery in 1804, with Britain following suit in 1833 with the Abolition of Slavery Act.
Twitter lit up with outrage following the segment, with many turning on the host for allowing the conversation in the first place.
One user said: "Did I just hear that woman correctly!? Blaming the Africans for slavery!?"
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A second said: "Did this woman just suggest that slaves should go back to Africa to get reparations from chieftains and that someone should repay England for the white men they sent out on the high seas to supposedly stop slavery?"
The same user later added: "Don Lemon owes every black person who watched tonight's segment with Hillary an apology for letting that nonsense about slavery go unchecked on his show."
Another user said: "No, Don Lemon. That was not an interesting discussion. Hilary Fordwich's pontification on slavery was offensive. Unacceptable. CNN has to address this."
Well, we'll bet she won't be invited back after that one. Yikes.
Featured Image Credit: CNN. dpa picture alliance / Alamy.Topics: News, Racism, Royal Family, UK News, US News
