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Jimmy Kimmel offered a half-hearted apology after video he shared of Vice President Mike Pence appeared to have edited out an important part.
The late night television host aired a misleading video of Pence delivering empty boxes of personal protective equipment during his monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday, mocking “Magic Mike” in comments he would soon regret.
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
“Here he is with no mask on, wheeling boxes of PPEs into a healthcare center, and doing his best to lift them, what a hero — just barely in the door,” Kimmel said, mocking the vice president who was seen in the video at a Virginia nursing home on Thursday as he helped unload a van containing the PPE from FEMA.
“And since it was going so well, and also because he didn’t realize he had a mic on, Magic Mike decided to keep it going, listen in closely here,” he continued in the video which was tweeted by Democratic pollster Matt McDermott.
After dropping the boxes at the door of Alexandria’s Woodbine Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, Pence made his way back to a van and asked about the rest of the packages there. When he was told they were empty, the vice president jokingly asked if he could carry them anyway, “ just for the camera.”
“Those are empty sir, we’re good to go,” a White House official responded to his question.
“Well can I carry the extra ones just for the camera?” Pence asked.
“Absolutely, they’re a lot easier,” the official laughed.
“Mike Pence pretending to carry a big box of PPEs 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,” Kimmel declared.
But the video, which was marked as a C-SPAN clip, was not shown completely as the end of the clip revealed that the question was an obvious joke since Pence laughed and closed the van door before walking away.
Kimmel’s viral video was labeled “absolute garbage” by Jon Thompson, a campaign spokesman for Pence who tweeted that the vice president was “clearly joking about empty boxes & if Kimmel showed the full clip from C-SPAN, not the one he selectively edited, you see and hear it.”
.@JimmyKimmelLive deleted their tweet that had the deceptively edited video of Pence delivering PPE. pic.twitter.com/ahloYGXSne
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 8, 2020
Kimmel later tweeted a grudging apology, saying “it would appear that [Pence] 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,” he said, but added an extra dig. “I know how dearly this administration values truth.”
Other critics of the Trump administration had helped spread Kimmel’s clip, including U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.
“As @jimmykimmel said, Mike Pence pretending to help during a crisis is the perfect metaphor for the failures of this administration in handling this pandemic,” the Illinois Democrat tweeted.
A small sampling of media people and Democrats pushing Jimmy Kimmel’s deceptively edited video of Mike Pence delivering PPE. pic.twitter.com/GGUTL8JkyV
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 8, 2020
Earlier this week, President Trump had referred to the TV host as “wacko ‘last placer’ Jimmy Kimmel” in a tweet.
Wow! Congratulations to Greg Gutfeld, a one time Trump Hater who has come all the way home. His Ratings easily beat no talent Stephen Colbert, nice guy Jimmy Fallon, and wacko “last placer” Jimmy Kimmel. Greg built his show from scratch, and did a great job in doing so. @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2020
Kimmel’s failed gotcha attempt of Pence earned him plenty of backlash on Twitter.
I miss the old school talk show hosts that left their political ideology at the door.
— Button Man (@JoeyNCochran) May 8, 2020
Maybe just get some new material
— netphlix & philip (@philgalletto) May 8, 2020
Jimmy’s been social distancing from jokes for years.
— Red is MY color! (@RDodge1) May 8, 2020
If you fell for the edited video of Pence’s quip about empty boxes, may I suggest not using Jimmy Kimmel as a source for news.
— Pocket Constitution Carrier, Nick (@TheNumba1Guy) May 8, 2020
Buzzfeed throws Kimmel under the bus. It doesn’t get much better than that.
— conspiracy roulette (@conspiracyroul1) May 8, 2020
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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