[There was a video here]

CNN’s Don Lemon might as well have asked Joan Tarshis, “Did you try not getting raped by Bill Cosby?”

After patting himself on the back for doing his job, Lemon did more of what he thinks his job entails when he shared this exchange with Tarshis, who went public this week with allegations that Cosby raped her in 1969, while interviewing her earlier tonight:

Lemon: Can I ask you this? And please, I don’t mean to be crude, OK?

Tarshis: Yeah.

Lemon: You said this last night, that he — you lied to him and said, “I have an infection, and if you rape me, or if you do — if you have intercourse with me, then you will probably get it and give it to your wife.”

Tarshis: Right.

Lemon: You said he made you perform oral sex.

Tarshis: Right.

Lemon: You — you know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you didn’t want to do it.

Tarshis: I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have.

Lemon: Right. Meaning the using of the teeth, right?

Tarshis: Yes...I didn’t even think of it.

Lemon: Biting.

Tarshis: Ouch.

Lemon: Yes. I had to ask.

Did you, though, Don?

This is causing an outrage on Twitter because telling a person who says she’s been raped how she could have avoided it is absolutely outrageous.