CNN is once again under fire, this time regarding a tweet that has been criticized as spectacularly inappropriate.

Analyst Chris Cillizza posted a gif of the President in green crosshairs to Twitter.

Yes, crosshairs that look strikingly similar to those from a gun!

Here we have CNN’s Chris Cillizza posting an image of crosshairs around the president of the United States of America.

This is CNN. pic.twitter.com/Q0gdAbkgLw

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 15, 2018

The political commentator claimed the crosshairs were an unintended consequence of the app CNN uses to make gifs.  

I’ve deleted a GIF about President Trump. We use @GifGrabber to make our GIFs and it defaults to the image below as a first frame. To clear up any unintended confusion, I’ve removed the tweet. pic.twitter.com/x6PCKoiW16 — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 15, 2018

He has now deleted the tweet to “clear up any unintended confusion” after a significant backlash.

The tweet used a photo of Trump commemorating officers killed in the line of duty at the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service in Washington.

Um, why is there green crosshairs over trump? https://t.co/CSFsvfIkk0

— LaurieAnn 💫 (@mooshakins) May 15, 2018

And not all of them bought Cillizza’s excuse…  

I just used GIF grabber to make a GIF of Chris Cillizza’s twitter timeline.

Strangely, there were no crosshairs inserted. pic.twitter.com/N1CvwgGq7d

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 15, 2018

CNN said the following in a statement to Fox News:

Chris has already addressed this issue publicly.

The image in question is a framing mark used in film and video production to frame a shot. Nothing more. A producer who created the motion graphic inadvertently left that frame in the GIF.

When it came to our attention, the tweet containing the GIF was deleted and replaced with explanation. There is nothing more to say.

You can see an archived version of Cillizza’s tweet here.

Source: indy100