August 15, 2025
Michaels was slammed on social media for her slavery view point while CNN was ridiculed for booking her as a guest in the first place.
Former fitness personality turned MAGA personality, Jillian Michaels, made her way back to viral life with a bold claim that slavery should not be blamed on one race, while making an appearance on CNN.
Michaels attempted to go toe-to-toe with CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip, Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) on a number of topics, including President Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors takeover, transgender athletes, and the upcoming Smithsonian audit. After Torres accused the president of “poisoning what is an iconic and historically bipartisan institution” and Roginsky stated Trump is “reviewing parts of American history… to make sure it comports with dear leader and what MAGA wants,” the former Biggest Loser host jumped in.
Defending accusations that Trump is attempting to “white-wash” slavery, Michaels claimed that’s not the case.
“He’s not whitewashing slavery,” Michaels shot back at the panelists. “And you cannot tie imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race, which is pretty much what every single exhibit does.”
When Torres didn’t back down, Michaels pushed a narrative that under 2% of white Americans owned slaves and implied that those were “the first race to try to end slavery.”
“Every single thing is like, ‘white people are bad,’ and that’s just not the truth,” the former fitness personality said.
To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, Trump called for the Smithsonian Institution to conduct a “comprehensive internal review” of eight of its museums — including the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,” the letter read, according to NPR.
Michaels was slammed on social media for her viewpoint, and she wasn’t the only one. CNN was ridiculed for booking her as a guest in the first place. “This is what happens when you elevate a run-of-the-mill gym trainer to political pundit,” actress Rachel True wrote on X.
Disability advocate Ola Ojewumi (@olas_truth) blamed the news network for allowing the banter to carry on. “This is why CNN’s ratings are in the tank,” she said. “Jillian Michaels is a fitness trainer, not a historian. Why is she on a cable news panel being treated as a subject matter expert on the institution of slavery?! Stop giving unqualified white women platforms to spread misinformation.”
Once Michaels realized she was losing ground on her slavery argument, she shifted her focus to the Smithsonian’s Change Your Game exhibit, described by Advocate as a family-friendly installation about sports innovation. The once-proud member of the LGBTQ+ community argued against transgender athletes participating in women’s sports, dismissing the exhibit’s discussion of gender testing as “complex” and calling it “basic science… XX chromosome, XY chromosome.”
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