What I hear is that he starts to say “lives” and then drops back and says “people’s lives”, so it comes out “li, people’s lives”.
I simply don’t see how anyone could interpret what he said as being “black”, unless they were deliberately trying to smear him.
But this is CBS. So, yes, this is a deliberate smear.
Leftwingtards and blacks, particularly black leftwingtards have a FILTER in place that has them focus on the slightest tone that might suggest “black”, “teabag”, or “tax”