Glenn Beck was predictably unimpressed by Democratic lawmakers who launched a sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday, demanding a vote on gun control legislation. On his radio show today, Beck blasted Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who was one of the leaders of the effort, as a “clown” and declared that it is people such as himself who are the true civil rights leaders of today.

While Lewis was once a civil rights hero, Beck said, “he has become a clown. This has made these people, these civil rights leaders, into absolute clowns.”

Whereas activists like Lewis once fought to secure rights for people, Beck declared, they are now “sitting in to take people’s rights away” and that is why conservatives like himself are the modern day civil rights leaders.

“Who are the civil rights leaders?” Beck asked. “I’ve said this for a long time and people make fun of us: We’re the civil rights leaders, we’re the civil rights leaders of today. They have discredited themselves and they are dismissed.”