It was as if a security breach had occurred at CNBC. A
first time guest to the show by the name of Sylvain Raynes, author
of
The Analysis of Structured Securities and an upcoming title,
The Elements of Structured Finance, was bullied and thrown off
a program after he broke some kind of previously unknown rule of
not bringing up CNBC ties with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). The
altercation, which is
now posted on YouTube, involved Erin Burnett, Jim Cramer, David
Faber and Mr. Raynes:
Raynes: "Yes, thank you Erin,
I’m pleased to be on this show since most of
your previous guests were public relations officers for
Goldman. Is it ok if I'm a little
critical?"
[Burnett and Cramer both interrupt together]
Cramer: "I don’t like to hear that!
I’ve blasted Goldman many times, I don’t need to hear
that nonsense."
Burnett: I think people would take issue
with that.
Raynes: "Mr Cramer, I would like to remind you that
the word is Abacus not Abaackus. Now, I would like to answer
the question Erin, is that Ok?"
[Burnett and Cramer again both interrupt
together]
Burnett: "Uh, yes,
but please refrain from making any personal allegations about
people on the show; if you could refrain from
that."
Cramer: "Not if you make a charge like that, no. That
implies that I take money from Goldman Sachs. I resent
that!"
Raynes: Mr. Cramer,
Mr. Cramer, please let me answer you've had your
chance.
Cramer:"Take back your charge
that I took money and I
will."
At this point Raynes
closed his eyes as if looking for how to respond to Cramer's
bullying censorship threat. He may have been flustered
because he never stated that Cramer took money from Goldman
Sachs. Cramer injected that accusation on himself.
Burnett then jumped in and allowed Raynes to continue, despite
Cramer's threat, but later Raynes could not
resist:
Raynes: "...we don’t have time to go into
details, I want to remain shallow in deference to
Mr Cramer."
[Burnett and Cramer again both interrupt
together]
Burnett: "hey hey
hey hey hey hey
hey,
hey,
I asked you to please not say derogatory things about my
colleagues. You can't say that on this
show, Sylvain."
Cramer: "What’s this ad hominem nonsense,
come on partner. Don't give me that ad hominem nonsense, I
wasn't knocking you."
Burnett: "We’re gonna take a brief break
here, we'll be back in just a second. Sylvain will not be with us.
Sylvain you gotta be more polite than
that."
The irony was that Sylvain Raynes had a mild manner that
came off as exceedingly polite while Burnett and Cramer appeared
highly confrontational and defensive. Perhaps it's because
Burnett and Cramer are both former employees of Goldman
Sachs.