Nick Sandmann
Former Covington Catholic High School Student Nicholas Sandmann speaks by video feed at the 2020 Republican National Convention, broadcast from Washington, DC, August 25, 2020.
A CNN analyst was ridiculed online after taking aim at Nicholas Sandmann, the high school student who sued the network for defamation over mangled coverage, following the youth's address at the Republican National Convention.

"I'm watching tonight because it's important. But I don't have to watch this snot nose entitled kid from Kentucky," tweeted CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart, referring to Sandmann's appearance at the RNC on Tuesday night.


The teen sued a number of mainstream media outlets last year over their coverage of an incident in the nation's capital in January 2019, where Sandmann and fellow Covington High School students had a standoff with Native American activist Nathan Phillips during a dispute with a group of protesters at the Lincoln Memorial.

Sandman and his fellow students were waiting for a bus to take them home from an anti-abortion march when they were confronted by a group of Black Hebrew Israelite demonstrators, who hurled racial and homophobic slurs at them for nearly an hour. The boys then asked permission from their chaperon to chant to drown out the rival group, prompting Native American activists to start banging drums.

The short clip, aired by CNN and other mainstream media, did not show what preceded Sandman's stare-down with Phillips, while taking Phillips' claim at face value that the boys had blocked his path and refused to let him leave.

Media coverage put Sandmann front and center as the smirking face of 'white privilege', prompting a barrage of defamation suits. He has so far settled with CNN and the Washington Post for undisclosed amounts.

Given Sandmann's history with CNN, Lockhart's vitriol toward the teen was perhaps unsurprising, but netizens weighed in to mock the self-avowed analyst regardless, many reminding him of the network's settlement.

"Said 'snot nose kid from Kentucky' sued the network you work for - for $250 million. The network settled," Hill journalist Joe Concha shot back.




Another user observed that Lockhart had only proven Sandmann's point about 'cancel culture' and dishonest media, subjects which dominated the teen's RNC speech.

"I wouldn't be canceled. I fought back hard to expose the media for what they did to me and won a personal victory," Sandmann told the convention, saying he had survived a "media nightmare."