BY REBECCA LEBER ON DECEMBER 3, 2013 | Think Progress

CNN won’t concede the so-called knockout game might be a fake, despite widespread doubt from news sources and New York Police Commisioner Ray Kelly. Instead, it aired an interview Tuesday that perpetuated the racist media narrative of the game, where CNN guest Rabbi Gary Moskowitz, a black-belt rabbi, instructed Jewish people how to defend themselves from perpetrators he compared to animals.

“The issue is … they’re not just attacking Jews theologically. What they’re doing is, they’re attacking weaker people. It’s very much like the animal kingdom,” he said. “They’re attacking weaker people. So they attack elderly women, they attack children. And Jewish people, unfortunately, especially in the Orthodox community are considered weak.”

Throughout the segment, CNN aired video of a black man attacking a white victim on a loop. The Atlantic Wire’s Philip Bump notes that the segment included a demonstration with CNN anchor Don Lemon throwing a fake punch at Moskowitz.

Watch it:

Media panic over the “knockout game” has elevated a few isolated events to a fake widespread, growing phenomenon. But fringe conservative sites, and now networks like CNN, have latched onto portraying young black men as violent.