We’ll take it as a compliment.
Bravo’s Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi is no fan of Breitbart News. The TV personality is calling the riot footage that House Republicans screened during Tuesday’s Bill Barr hearing “Breitbart propaganda” that she claims is intended to smear Black Lives Matter “protestors” as violent.
The culinary host also described the GOP video as “fear-mongering” while she complained about federal law enforcement using tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the rioting that has taken over cities like Portland for weeks. Padma Lakshmi tweeted her disgust at the GOP and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in particular for showing the video of violent rioters. She also misrepresented the nature of the video of omitting key scenes of violence in her tweet.
“So @Jim_Jordan & @HouseGOP made a Breitbart propaganda iMovie of people throwing water bottles, traffic cones & toppling Confederate statues to signal BLM/protestors are violent,” she wrote. “Why does this fear-mongering Republican exhibit feel 20 minutes long? Is there a Democrat exhibit coming up?”
So @Jim_Jordan & @HouseGOP made a Breitbart propaganda iMovie of people throwing water bottles, traffic cones & toppling Confederate statues to signal BLM/protestors are violent.
Meanwhile, people are losing their eyes to rubber bullets & being indiscriminately gassed by Feds.
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) July 28, 2020
Why does this fear-mongering Republican exhibit feel 20 minutes long? Is there a Democrat exhibit coming up?
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) July 28, 2020
Lakshmi’s description of the GOP’s video omits some of the rioters’ most violent acts of assault and destruction.
House Judiciary Committee / YouTube
The video, which lasted eight minutes, began with a montage of mainstream media talking heads and Democrat politicians repeatedly using the term “peaceful protests.” What followed was extensive footage of rioters toppling statues, looting businesses, setting fire to federal property, and assaulting law enforcement with explosives.
In one scene, rioters are seen assaulting police officers on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge. Three officers were injured in the July incident that sparked outrage among the city’s law enforcement community.
The video also shows the widow of slain retired police captain David Dorn pleading for peace and civility during a recent press conference.
Rep. Jordan introduced the GOP’s video by thanking Attorney General Bill Barr. “I want to thank you for defending law enforcement, for pointing out what a crazy idea this ‘defund the police’ policy or whatever you want to call it is, and standing up for the rule of law.”
Padma Lakshmi has hosted the Emmy-winning Top Chef since 2006. Her new Hulu cooking show Taste the Nation debuted in June. The TV celebrity and author has expressed her antipathy for President Donald Trump by calling him a “lunatic” during an appearance last year on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
When asked about the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border, Lakshmi invoked her immigrant experience as a young girl from India.
“I really came here with my mother, much like these people at the border with hardly anything,” she said. “There’s no crisis. There’s no crisis. The only crisis is that we have a lunatic with a lot of power. That is the only crisis.”
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com