‘It is Wrong. It is Hurtful.’: ABC’s Jon Karl Destroys Rubio for ‘Outrageous’ Claim Media is Gleeful About Coronavirus Deaths
ABC News chief White House correspondent Jon Karl tore into Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for claiming that the media is delighted by the amount of people in America who have the coronavirus.
Rubio drew major online criticism on Sunday when he claimed on Twitter that the press “can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more Coronavirus cases than China.”
Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China
Beyond being grotesque,its bad journalism
We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 29, 2020
While there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the official numbers from China, Karl was among those who called out Rubio for insinuating that journalists are happy that more and more people are getting sick with a deadly disease.
Who are you talking about, Senator Rubio? Who feels “glee & delight” when more people are sick? Who? https://t.co/aIVdYQhXaW
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 29, 2020
During Monday’s edition of The View, Sunny Hostin asked Karl for his reaction to Rubio, and the White House correspondent proceeded to further rip the senator for his “outrageous” claim. After demanding an apology from Rubio, Karl also noted that COVID-19 is a life-threatening pandemic for the media industry too.
“It is outrageous. It is wrong. It is hurtful. I called out Senator Rubio, and I’ll do it again now to say, who are you talking about, Senator?” Karl said. “That tweet hit just after our friends at CBS News learned that one of their colleagues, one of their co-workers died from coronavirus. A colleague at NBC died of coronavirus. We have two members of the White House press corps who are now suspected to have Coronavirus. Who does Marco Rubio think is taking joy and glee at more people being sick?”
Karl, in his remarks, was referring to CBS News producer Maria Mercader and NBC audio technician Larry Edgeworth — both whom have died from complications relating to the virus.
Watch above, via ABC.
