MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has apologized to Mike Pence and Sen. Ted Cruz after he posted a phony video about the vice president and then bashed the Texas Republican when he complained about it.
“About last night: I gotta work on some things myself,” Scarborough wrote on Twitter. “I feel really bad about retweeting the Jimmy Kimmel video. I feel worse about being provoked. I apologize again to Mike Pence, to my Twitter followers, and to Ted. I’ve got to do better.”
The brouhaha started after Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe,” shared a video created by late-night talk show host Kimmel over the weekend. The clip showed Pence carrying “empty” boxes of personal protective equipment (PPE) into a hospital — supposedly for just a photo-op. But the clip was missing some key context: the full footage from C-SPAN showed Pence helping out with full boxes of PPE and later jokingly asking his staff that maybe he could carry the empty ones “just for the camera.”
Scarborough shared the Kimmel video, which Twitter eventually labeled as “manipulated media.”
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
“Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPEs into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing. A big box of nothin’ delivering another box of nothin’,” Kimmel said. The video has more than six million views.
But Pence was just making a joke, which was apparent to anyone who watched the full video.
“Here’s an unedited version of @VP Pence delivering PPE to Woodbine Rehab Center. The clip from @JimmyKimmel and sent viral by @mattmfm & others is quite deceptive. Pence is clearly joking when he talks about empty boxes for the camera, & shuts the van doors right after the quip,” Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy wrote.
Here's an unedited version of @VP Pence delivering PPE to Woodbine Rehab Center. The clip from @JimmyKimmel and sent viral by @mattmfm & others is quite deceptive. Pence is clearly joking when he talks about empty boxes for the camera, & shuts the van doors right after the quip. pic.twitter.com/HyV8iBiljS
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) May 8, 2020
Scarborough eventually pulled down his tweet, saying, “I guess Twitter is a full time job. I apologize to Mike Pence for retweeting a tweet that had been disproved. I’m deleting now.”
I guess Twitter is a full time job. I apologize to Mike Pence for retweeting a tweet that had been disproved. I’m deleting now.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 8, 2020
But Cruz had already gone on the offensive by then.
“Hmm. When you’re on the defensive for being dishonest & corrupt, perhaps best not to forward fraudulent stories from Jimmy Kimmel (that he’s admitted were false)? You are claiming to be a journalist, after all….” Cruz tweeted at Scarborough.
Scarborough fired back.
“Ted, when I make a mistake I admit it. You remain mired in shame because you kowtow to a man who called your wife ugly and said your daddy assassinated JFK. Me messing up a tweet or two will never erase the shame you carry every day of your life,” he wrote.
But Cruz came back with a powerful counter punch.
“Joe, you chased after Trump for 2 years like a teenage girl throwing her panties at the latest boy band; now you pretend to be this indignant paragon of virtue outraged at everything he says & does. All to get invited to DC cocktail parties & thrill the 13 people watching MSNBC,” Cruz tweeted.
Joe, you chased after Trump for 2 years like a teenage girl throwing her panties at the latest boy band; now you pretend to be this indignant paragon of virtue outraged at everything he says & does. All to get invited to DC cocktail parties & thrill the 13 people watching MSNBC. https://t.co/XG9P0Bwrbp
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 8, 2020
Kimmel also apoligized, but threw in a dig. “It would appear that @vp was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt. The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values truth,” Kimmel wrote.
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