CNN's Chris Cuomo wishes they didn't have to show Chicago torture video on-air

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo expressed regret Thursday that his news channel planned to show the horrific video of a disabled man being tortured in Chicago by four black teenagers who accused him of being a Trump supporter.

As noted in a video clip provided by CNN, fellow host Alisyn Camerota also expressed surprise at the idea that anyone might ascribe political motivations to an attack in which the attackers accused the victim of being a Trump supporter:

4 arrested in beating broadcast on Facebook Live: https://t.co/uzG06odlFi https://t.co/YLpgUkMKnm

— New Day (@NewDay) January 5, 2017

CAMEROTA: Look, not only is this hideous, it's being also now somehow parlayed into a political statement - there are some right-wing websites that believe that this is political, so we are gonna have a debate about what is behind this coming up.

CUOMO: And at the end of the day there’s no cause, there’s no cure for stupid. I just wish there was a way to get at the problem without showing the video. Because in a way you’re giving these jerks what they want in the first place, which is attention. But I don’t know how you ignore it because it’s so wrong what they did to that kid.

Conservatives contend that this sort of disparate response reveals a stark distinction between how the media treats attacks that appear to be motivated by liberal ideology as opposed to those that appear to be motivated by conservative ideology. Conservatives have noted that CNN and other outlets frequently repeat graphic videos of police shooting black men, and sometimes erroneously rush to blame right-wing groups for violent attacks.

One such example was when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was partially blamed for the shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords because of a map she published with gunsight targets pointed at Democratic candidates. The shooter was later described as liberal according to a classmate of his, and animated more by his schizophrenia than any political agenda.

Chicago police say they are questioning four 18-year-olds in connection with the horrific kidnapping and torture of a disabled teenager portrayed in the video referenced by Cuomo and Camerota above. They expect charges to be filed, but have not yet determined if they will recommend "hate crime" charges to the prosecutor in this case.