CNN commentator snaps at Kevin O'Leary to not 'be a d---' during heated debate over Supreme Court ruling

Bakari Sellers, a CNN political commentator, unloaded on "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary on Monday during a panel discussion, telling him, "Don't be a d---."

The Supreme Court paved the way for Alabama to put a new House map in place ahead of the 2026 midterms in a ruling on Monday. The AP reported that the decision will allow the state to eliminate one of two majority Black districts in the state.

"I think everybody should take confidence in the fact the Supreme Court basically supported one vote, one person guaranteed in perpetuity, and the rest is just map wars," O'Leary said in reaction to the SCOTUS ruling. "And I think we should get used to it. And I think it's, as you said, a state-based situation. Add this to the mix. At the end of the day, the state decides at the state level. It's in the Constitution. Get over it."

Sellers pushed back, saying, "There is an entire generation of people, Brown v. Board, it overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. And my point is that my mother was born in 1951. She desegregated schools. My father was shot in the civil rights movement." He then told O'Leary: "I'm going to finish because you're being utterly disrespectful," 

SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR

Bakari Sellers attends the 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ Presented By Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 6, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kevin O'Leary attends Consensus Miami 2026 at Miami Beach Convention Center on May 6, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for ESSENCE; Romain Maurice/Getty Images)

Sellers continued, "So, I'm going to finish this comment. So, what I'm telling you is that there are people in this country who fought, died, and bled for the right to vote. Don't be a d---, just understand."

O'Leary said the Constitution was being upheld and questioned whether Sellers had a problem with the document.

"Hold on a second. Bakari, I'm going to stop you, because I just want everybody to reset with a modicum of respect at this table," CNN host Abby Phillip jumped in. "Please stop, OK?"

"I want you to understand that there's a price that was paid for this right. There is a price that we uphold," Sellers told O'Leary.

"Whether or not you value that or not, there are people who bled, sweat, and died, and were in prison for access to the ballot box," he continued. "What we're seeing throughout the South is that their voice, their vote, their representation, and people who have lived experiences to represent them are not being sent to Congress or where they need to go."

JUDGES SAY THEY'LL REDRAW LOUISIANA CONGRESSIONAL MAP THEMSELVES IF LAWMAKERS CAN'T

Kevin O’Leary looks on before President Donald Trump speaks about "Trump Accounts" at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

O'Leary said they still had access to the ballot box.

The Supreme Court limited the scope of a key Voting Rights Act provision that restricts how states draw districts affecting minority voters, constraining states' use of race as a factor when drawing congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

The justices ruled 6-3 that Louisiana's 2024 congressional map, which was redrawn to create a second majority-Black district, constituted an "illegal" racial gerrymander. 

The court's decision sharply narrows states' use of race as a factor when drawing their congressional districts, effectively watering down Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in question designed to protect minority voters.

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U.S. Supreme Court building on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.