Don Lemon has doubled down on his involvement with an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul. Protestors targeted the church because of David Easterwood, a man listed as one of the church’s pastors who also appears to be the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Addressing criticism, Lemon offered a Biblical comparison. “Jesus turned the tables over in the temple, right? He flipped the tables because He was tired of them not doing what they’re supposed to do in His Father’s house, and not living up to the tenets of Christianity,” he told “I’ve Had It” podcast host, Jennifer Welch.

Lemon has been accused of being complicit in violating the church’s First Amendment rights after he appeared on scene where he pushed back against congregants’ and the pastor’s complaints against the disruption. Conservatives have pushed for Lemon to be charged with violating either the FACE Act or KKK Act. The FACE Act prohibits “the use of force or threat of force or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, or interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate, or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship” and was utilized the Biden administration to arrest 23 pro-lifers that were accused of physically blocking access to abortion clinics. The KKK Act makes denying anyone of “any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protection, named in the Constitution” a federal crime. Attorney General Pam Bondi has already announced the arrests of several key players involved with the protest.

Lemon, however, has presented himself as a journalist at the scene of an important news event. He stated the discomfort the predominantly white Baptist church congregants experienced was a good thing. “I think people who are in religious groups like that — it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice — but I think they’re entitled, and that entitlement comes from white supremacy. They think this country was built for them, that it’s a Christian country.” Lemon also isn’t alone in comparing the event to Jesus flipping tables as a way to cleanse the Temple, an event recorded in all four Gospels. Progressive Christian activist and author Shane Claiborne, responding to comments by AG Pam Bondi that Jesus “would never have stormed a church in protest in the people who were running it,” wrote on X, “Jesus literally staged a protest IN THE TEMPLE. Flipped some tables… and drove out the folks pretending to be holy. It seems pretty clear that one of the most offensive things to God is when people use religion to cover up their greed and bigotry. Rebuke it. In the name of Jesus.”

Other Christians, however, pushed back on the comparison. “I don’t remember Jesus screaming in the faces of little children about their white privilege until they cried. Can you point me to that passage in the Bible?” wrote The Daily Wire’s Megan Basham. “First of all, not a ‘protest’ and not ‘staged,’” wrote another account. “But—here’s an important point—Jesus’ actions took place in ‘the temple courts.’ These were outer areas—there was a ‘court of Women’, there was a ‘court of gentiles’, there were half a dozen ‘courts’. Not in the sanctuary!”