Jimmy Kimmel, the anti-Trump host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” was forced to delete and apologize for a carefully edited video that appeared to show Vice President Mike Pence playing for the cameras while delivering PPE gear at a health care facility.
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Breitbart reported that the clip Kimmel used included Pence helping to deliver PPE gear to a health care facility’s front door. At one point, an unidentified individual informs Pence that he was headed for empty boxes. Pence jokingly says, “Well, can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?”
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The Indianapolis Star reported that the video had gone viral and was seized on by those who hate President Trump. Kimmel, even when called out of such a careless blunder, was sarcastic in his apology.
“It would appear that @VP was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt,” Kimmel tweeted. “The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values the truth.”
Kimmel, like all of the other late-night hosts, has made a career by attacking Trump with recycled jokes that any comedian worth their salt can do. Disney, which owns ABC, was recently called out by Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney, for furloughing hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers.
Matt McDermott, the vice president of Whitman Insight Strategies, tweeted the edited clip. The post was called out by David Mack, the deputy director of breaking news at Buzzfeed News, who said flatly: “This isn’t true. The clip cuts out at a selective point. When you watch 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.”
McDermott, like Kimmel, appeared to go down swinging and followed up the initial tweet, “With 75,000 Americans dead, Pence is joking about about empty boxes of PPE during a publicity stunt, after the White House press secretary said they had no time for “publicity stunts” in the middle of a crisis.”
Breitbart reported that McDermott has a history of targeting Pence and his wife for what he considers homophobia. One of his tweets in the past said, “Mike Pence uses his religious beliefs to justify his bigotry towards gay people. That’s his prerogative, but it’s still bigotry.