ABC’s left-wing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is getting blasted for airing a deceptively edited video implying that Vice President Mike Pence was faking his recent effort to help a healthcare facility. In addition to social media backlash, journalists at NBC News and BuzzFeed News called out Kimmel for putting out “misleading” and “selective” video, adding that the original C-SPAN footage disproves his claim.
Vice President Pence was seen on Thursday delivering boxes of personal protection equipment to a healthcare facility in Alexandria, Virginia. At the end of the version that aired on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the vice president is heard saying, “Well, can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?”
Kimmel then chimed in: “Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPE’s into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing — a big box of nothing delivering another box of nothing.”
But the longer C-SPAN version of the video tells a different story than the one Kimmel was spinning. In the original footage, Pence appears to make his remark as a joke before closing a van door and leaving the empty boxes for someone else to carry.
NBC News investigative reporter Emmanuelle Saliba tweeted: “I went back to the original @cspan footage and sounds like @VP was making a joke about the empty boxes. He doesn’t carry those last boxes. He shuts the van doors and turns to speak CEO of @fedresources.”
Edit is misleading.
I went back to the original @cspan footage and sounds like @VP was making a joke about the empty boxes.
He doesn't carry those last boxes. He shuts the van doors and turns to speak CEO of @fedresources
I isolated the clip here: https://t.co/GQQTE2D6Ki https://t.co/1apBTVlBw3
— Emmanuelle Saliba 🧐 (@_esaliba) May 8, 2020
Likewise, BuzzFeed deputy director of breaking news David Mack noted that Kimmel’s version of the video omits crucial context.
“The clip cuts out at a selective point. When you watch the CSPAN footage (9 min in), Pence makes the crack about carrying the empty ones and the guy says ‘Absolutely. They’re a lot easier!’ Pence laughs then immediately shuts the van door.”