CNN Savaged For Fawning Report On RFK Jr.’s Workout Videos: ‘F*ck All To Do With Anything’
CNN received an avalanche of criticism on Wednesday after the network tweeted out a two-minute reported clip on Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent viral workout videos.
Kennedy has been grabbing headlines in recent weeks as he’s polling in double digits and making the rounds in the media, predominantly right-of-center media that is boosting his candidacy. Kennedy’s long-documented conspiratorial beliefs and bombastic rhetoric has made him an anti-establishment hero to some, but has presented a challenge to the media as to how best to cover him without platforming his false claims – like that vaccines cause autism.
CNN national correspondent Jeanne Moos’s report on Kennedy working out included some negative reactions to viral videos, but also a comparison to Rocky Balboa and some undeniable fawning.
Writer and director David Simon replied with scathing criticism, “There’s nothing journalistic about @CNN pimping a deadbrained demagogue’s physique as if it has fuck all to do with anything that should matter to anyone. If your newsroom hasn’t been emptied of professionals yet, my god, as a matter of everyone’s self-respect, it should be.”
“Sorry, what? Did CNN just re-hire Christ Licht? I am lost for words. What is this?” replied MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
Nieman Labs’s Joshuan Benton added, “This was not necessary.”
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