The agency that represents MIT economist Jonathan Gruber on the lecture circuit will not allow the University of Rhode Island to repost a video of a speech he gave there in 2012 that was taken off of YouTube earlier this week, the school claims in a statement to The Daily Caller.
Gruber, who was paid $392,600 by the Obama administration for consultation work on Obamacare, was also paid $12,500 by the University of Rhode Island for a lecture he gave there on Oct. 30, 2012.
“It’s a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter,” Gruber told the audience that night, explaining how a major component of Obamacare, the “Cadillac tax,” was pushed through Congress.
That video, which re-surfaced last week, became the third that showed Gruber speaking candidly about Obamacare. The video mysteriously disappeared from YouTube on Monday. (RELATED: University of Rhode Island Removes Gruber Video)
University of Rhode Island spokeswoman Linda Acciardo released a statement to TheDC on Wednesday explaining that the video was removed after the Associated Press requested clearance to use it.
“The speakers in the series, or their representatives, require the university to sign contracts that specify distribution approvals and/or language relating to their presentations including the posting of videos to the university’s website,” Acciardo wrote. “In reviewing the Gruber contract before responding to the AP request, it was clear that the university needed written permission to post the lecture to its website. The university, therefore, immediately removed the lecture from its website and contacted the agency holding the copyright of professor Gruber’s lecture to secure permission to repost. The agency will not provide its consent to the university to repost the video.”
Gruber is listed as a client of the Leigh Bureau. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gruber has denied numerous requests for comment.