Anderson Cooper baffled by Las Vegas mayor’s logic for reopening: ‘Wow — that’s really ignorant’

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An interview with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman left CNN host Anderson Cooper completely flabbergasted as she called for the reopening of casinos and hotels and claimed the city has been dealing with viruses “for years.” Goodman was contentious all throughout the interview, leading Cooper to describe her position as “ignorant.”

Goodman became defensive when Cooper asked: “You assume everyone has the virus is just asymptomatic. You want casinos open, Vegas back in business. Is that a responsible call to make?”

“That wasn’t the call I was really making,” Goodman fired back. “It was to get people back to work. We have so many in our hospitality crew,” adding, “we’re two-and-a-half million people down here in southern Nevada and we have so many out of work…”

“But you want the casinos open, yes?” Cooper interjected.

“Well, that’s a piece of it. I want the hotel rooms open. We have 155,000 hotel rooms and most of our people who live here and are part of the population are hooked to those hotel rooms in some way or ancillary way,’ Goodman replied.

Cooper pressed on:

“So you want hotel rooms, casinos, the theaters open? I mean, you want Vegas back in business, no?”

“I want our restaurants open, I want our small businesses open, I want people back in employment,” she said. “We have so many families that can’t even afford to get the groceries for their family because they’ve been out of work for six weeks.”

Not completely satisfied with that answer, Cooper pushed further, asking, “But casinos, you want them open? Because obviously, visitors are not going to come without casinos and shows and things.”

Goodman said that people will come because they love the city. which also has sports venues. “I’d love everything open because we’ve had viruses for years that have been here,” she said.

At one point Cooper brought up the fact that “Chinese researchers have shown how this virus spreads,” and showed a diagram of an infected restaurant.

“This isn’t China,” Goodman replied. “This is Las Vegas.”

“Wow. Okay, that’s really ignorant,” Cooper said, clearly frustrated. “That’s an ignorant statement. That’s a restaurant, and yes it’s in China, but they are human beings too.”

Watch the video below.

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Megan Hamilton

Megan Hamilton has traveled extensively throughout the Southern United States, Mexico, and parts of Central America. A lifelong atheist, these travels have informed her political views. She currently lives in a remote location with a large herd of cats and four dogs.