Viral Tweet Falsely Accuses Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace of Going Mask-Free in Public
A photo of “Chris Wallace” went viral on right-wing Twitter accusing the Fox News anchor of hypocrisy on the importance of mask-wearing.
There’s just a slight problem: it’s not Chris Wallace.
The trend seemed to begin when radio host Mark Simone posted this photo, which has received over 10,000 retweets as of this writing.
Notice that the only one walking around in this public place without a mask on is the extremely biased, elitist, Chris Wallace. #ChrisWallace #Trump #TrumpCovid #MAGA #ChrisWallaceTheHack pic.twitter.com/pw9BajqjuT
— MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) October 4, 2020
The tweet comes as Wallace faces criticism from supporters of President Donald Trump. The president’s backers continue to complain about how Wallace conducted the first debate between Trump and Joe Biden, but now that Trump has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, they are taking issue with Wallace repeatedly urging people to wear masks and raising questions about the First Family’s refusal to wear masks at the presidential debate on Tuesday.
The most glaring problem with the viral photo is the self-evident case of mistaken identity. As political observers helpfully pointed out, that picture of Wallace is actually a photo of ABC’s Jon Karl, and it emerged online months ago.
You should delete this because it’s false. https://t.co/rBh4QFNz8i
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) October 5, 2020
That’s a picture of Jon Karl,
not Chris Wallace. https://t.co/D29Mq3eNP1— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) October 4, 2020
Not Chris Wallace. Reverse image search shows that the image is from May and likely shows Jon Karl instead. https://t.co/v8Prgv7OfB
— Elias Atienza (@AtienzaElias) October 5, 2020
This is not Chris Wallace. https://t.co/jZH3yB6gfR
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 5, 2020
Whoopsies.
UPDATE – 2:29 p.m. ET: Simone is defending his tweet by asking “Is there a difference?”
Some are now claiming it’s not Chris Wallace, it’s Jonathan Karl in the picture. Is there a difference? Yes, Karl yells more at everyone to wear a mask and he doesn’t. He’s head of the White House correspondents association. Should resign. #wearamask pic.twitter.com/VTQfmEl0BN
— MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) October 5, 2020
