In a hilarious moment, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was called out for misgendering a Democratic civil rights attorney live on air. The comical incident, which occurred during a town hall with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), went viral as conservatives took the opportunity to dunk on Cooper and the woke activist who corrected him.
For context, the event occurred during a CNN town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper. The town hall focused on various topics, such as demographics and trade policy, and before the viral moment, the hosts discussed why men of all racial categories are turning away from the Democrats, seemingly unaware of the irony.
As the conversation developed, Anderson welcomed a local civil rights attorney to join the stage. The CNN anchor said, “I want to introduce Grace Thomas. She’s a local civil rights attorney. She’s a Democrat…” However, before finishing his introduction, Thomas interrupted, “It’s They/Them pronouns, actually. Thank you.”
The April 9, 2025, incident went massively viral, and Collin Rugg, co-founder of Trending Politics, humorously reacted. He said, “CNN’s Anderson Cooper gets corrected after misgendering a civil rights attorney at a town hall event with Bernie Sanders. Wow, what a bigot.”
Conservatives flocked to the comments of his post to make their own jokes. One of the comments read, “I fully expect CNN to fire Anderson Cooper first thing tomorrow.” Another joked, “Lol, this ain’t real life. 
There’s no way you can convince me that people actually put up with this nonsense.”
Other users said that incidents like this are precisely why the Democrats are losing the male vote. One such comment read, “Had follow-up question after that misgendering faux pas, where she’s asking Sanders as he leans in to avoid misgendering her and draw everyone’s ire, “Why people of all demographics are turning away from the Democratic party?” Who’s going to tell her? It is exactly because of people like her and their behavior that people are turned off and turned away from the Democratic party.”
Building on that point, many of the comments said that gender nonsense will only further alienate men. A reply read, “This is why the Democrats will continue to lose. These silly pronouns are really what matters to them rather than anything substantial.” Another comment said, “And she wonders why those demographics are turning away from the Democratic party. She encapsulated at that moment the reason why. Self-awareness is not her strong suit.”
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Watch the hilarious clip here:
Confused by the usage of “They/Them” pronouns, some of the replies sympathized with Cooper. One comment said, “How does that work? Cooper: I want to introduce Grace Thomas. They a local civil rights attorney. Them’s a Democrat. Is that it?” Another response read, “The English language is clear and simple, Pronouns are automatically assigned based on visual observations of sex, those that attempt to obscure nature are the ones at fault.”
Rounding out the comments, conservatives expressed how embarrassing the incident was. One such comment read, “Anderson Cooper just got called out for misgendering a civil rights attorney at a Bernie Sanders town hall. This is the kind of pronoun nonsense we’re working to dismantle. Grace Thomas quickly corrected him, but honestly, this whole thing is getting out of hand.”
Featured image from embedded video