CNN Panel Explodes Over Whether It’s Offensive to Say a Transgender Woman Was Once a 'Boy\

CNN’s Piers Morgan, who considers himself an advocate for the transgender community, was attacked relentlessly on social media after he said author and transgender activist Janet Mock was at one point a "boy" during his interview with her on Tuesday.

CNN

After a follow-up interview with Mock on Wednesday, Morgan invited a panel of guests, including TheBlaze’s Amy Holmes to debate whether what he said was offensive or factually incorrect.

Holmes said she attempted to gain a better understanding of why Mock was so offended by talking to two people who accompanied the woman to Wednesday’s interview.

“I said, ‘basically, the contention is that Janet never wants to be referred to as ever having been a boy because from her point of view she was always a girl,’” Holmes said. “And the answer was: ‘Correct.’”

“But it seemed like it was really more of a semantic issue here because the one and only reason why she is on this show, has written a book, is getting national attention was because she was born with male genitalia, went through surgery and is now female,” she added. “And that’s, frankly, a pretty sensational thing to go through in life.”

CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill told Morgan that him saying he’s an “ally” of the transgender community in defense of his comments is like “white people point to the number of black friends they have.”

Morgan was wrong to say Mock was formerly boy, though she should have called him out during the actual interview, not later on Twitter, Hill explained.

But things got really tense when conservative radio host Ben Ferguson chimed in with what he said are the "facts.”

“Let’s deal with facts here. She was a boy and she was a man when she was born,” he began. “Now she can be in the head and say she doesn’t accept that.”

“I disagree,” Hill interrupted.

Without acknowledging him, Ferguson continued: “But based on medicine and based on doctors, you come out and you are a man or you’re a woman.”

“That’s not true Ben! Ben, That’s not a fact! Ben, just because you say it’s a fact doesn’t make it true,” Hill hollered.

“You are confusing sex and gender, you should really read a book on this,” Hill told Ferguson.

The conservative radio host went on to accuse Mock of creating a fake outrage in order to sell more books, an allegation that Holmes pushed back against.

Watch the rest of the fiery exchange below: