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Las Vegas mayor leaves CNN's Anderson Cooper baffled while pushing for reopening
In a wild interview Wednesday afternoon, CNN's Anderson Cooper grew increasingly bewildered as the mayor of Las Vegas pushed for the city to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, dismissing health concerns.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman told Cooper on Wednesday she'd call for casinos, hotels, restaurants, and more to reopen after previously describing Nevada's stay-at-home order as "insanity."
"I'd love everything open," Goodman told Cooper, "because I think we've had viruses for years."
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Cooper seemingly couldn't believe that Goodman would be advocating for "hundreds of thousands of people" to flock to Las Vegas and then return to other areas of the country amid a pandemic, asking her, "how is that safe?" In response, Goodman insisted Cooper was being an "alarmist."
Asked by Cooper how casinos could implement social distancing upon reopening, Goodman declared, "that's up to them to figure out," an answer that made Cooper literally laugh out loud before he asked why she's calling for something that "you have no plan for how it would be done safely." Goodman again responded that the casinos should simply "figure it out."
Later, Cooper showed research from China demonstrating how the coronavirus spreads in a restaurant, information Goodman quickly dismissed because "this isn't China, this is Las Vegas, Nevada."
"Wow, okay, that's really ignorant," Cooper shot back. "That's an ignorant, ignorant statement."
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As Cooper continued to raise health concerns, Goodman told the CNN host "you're talking disease, I'm talking life," to which a confused Cooper responded in a moment that summed up the whole exchange, "Okay, that makes no sense." Watch a portion of the stunning interview below. Brendan Morrow
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
