Fox News Never Contacted About Failed James O’Keefe Stunt
As details emerged over conservative activist James O’Keefe’s remarkably ugly and failed attempt to lure CNN’s Abbie Boudreau onto a boat “filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session,” a number of media watchdog sites have predictably weighed in to reasonably vilify O’Keefe’s plan. Media Matters also reported the potential involvement by their arch nemesis Fox News. But a FNC spokesperson tells Mediaite that the cable news network knew nothing of the plan.
First some background.
Earlier today CNN reported that O’Keefe had attempted to punk Boudreau by getting her on a boat “filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session.” The stated goal of the stunt? Best to let CNN report:
According to the document, O’Keefe was to record a video of the following script before Boudreau arrived: “My name is James. I work in video activism and journalism. I’ve been approached by CNN for an interview where I know what their angle is: they want to portray me and my friends as crazies, as non-journalists, as unprofessional and likely as homophobes, racists or bigots of some sort….
“Instead, I’ve decided to have a little fun. Instead of giving her a serious interview, I’m going to punk CNN. Abbie has been trying to seduce me to use me, in order to spin a lie about me. So, I’m going to seduce her, on camera, to use her for a video. This bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five will get a taste of her own medicine, she’ll get seduced on camera and you’ll get to see the awkwardness and the aftermath.
Nearly everyone – from both left and right – rushed to decry the alleged actions of O’Keefe, including liberal media watchdog Media Matters (which predictably inserted Fox News into the controversy) Writer Joe Strupp‘s in-depth report on the ill-fated and sordid affair included the following:
Documents later obtained by CNN reportedly include an elaborate plan by O’Keefe and his associates to embarrass Boudreau with some kind of seduction scene.
Other documents indicate an alleged plot to set up Boudreau or another CNN reporter with a false story about Sarah Palin or the Tea Party and later expose that it was false, possibly through Fox News.
“They call Fox the ‘friendlys’ and their allies,” Boudreau says about the documents. “It was a very detailed plan to trick myself or another CNN reporter to report a false story and then give the heads up to Fox News.”
O’Keefe first gained notoriety with his infamous (and now debunked) short films shot with hidden camera that effectively took down ACORN. When that story first broke on Big Government, it was immediately picked up across nearly all of Fox News shows, including both their news and opinion programs. So it certainly stands to reason that O’Keefe would consider Fox News a “friendly,” as Strupp quoted Boudreau to say.
However, Mediaite contacted Fox News for comment, to which they responded, “FOX News had no knowledge of the stunt and no one on any of the news or opinion shows were contacted about it.”
