CNBC Republican debate moderator Carl Quintanilla was booed by the audience Wednesday after pressing candidate Ben Carson on some of his corporate associations.
The NBC Nightly News weekend anchor first asked Carson about his membership on the board of Costco, which has been called the top "gay-friendly brand" in the country, partly because it provides domestic partnership benefits. Why, Quintanilla asked, would he associate with a company that runs counter to his own conservative Christian beliefs?
"I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation," he said. "There is no reason why you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They should not automatically assume because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. This is a myth that the left perpetrates on our society."
Quintanilla then asked about Mannatech, a nutritional supplement-maker that claims the ability to cure autism and cancer and paid millions to settle a lawsuit in Texas.
"Yet your involvement continued. Why?" Quintanilla asked.
"I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda," Carson said. In reality, he said, he did "a couple of speeches for them and other people. … It is absolutely absurd to say I had any kind of relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes, I think it's a good product."
Quintanilla said the home page of Mannatech's website once featured Carson's picture with the logo over his shoulder.
"If somebody put me on their home page they did it without my permission," Carson said.
Quintanilla asked whether that spoke to Carson's vetting process.
As Carson attempted to answer, the crowd booed, apparently at Quintanilla's questioning.
Carson smiled.
"They know," he said of the crowd.
"Apparently," Quintanilla agreed, smiling himself.
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