Click-thirsty journalists in need of things to write about are now running smear jobs on a man who asked a question at Sunday’s presidential debate.
Ken Bone rose to i nternet fame after asking a question about energy policy at the debate. His mustache, large size and red sweater (along with his last name) quickly earned him the attention of people on Twitter, at which point journalists and pundits led the charge in turning Ken Bone into an internet meme.
On Friday, a writer for liberal website The Daily Beast wrote an article attempting to portray Bone — who has no involvement in politics other than asking a question at the town hall — as a villain for comments he had made online before later becoming an internet sensation.
The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes apparently dug through Bone’s commenting history on Reddit in order to find damning things to write about.
“Ken Bone’s Disturbing Reddit History Shows He’s Not Nearly as Adorable as We Thought,” the headline blared.
Daily Beast thinks it’s “most damaging” to Ken Bone that he agreed with a Florida jury. https://t.co/5Sdi4JHzFY pic.twitter.com/tuSgr7qnrD
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) October 14, 2016
Sykes highlight comments Bone had made about hacked nude pictures of Jennifer Lawrence that surfaced online, in which Bone appears to admit to looking at the pictures. It’s unclear if Bone was serious or not, and Sykes doesn’t appear to have reached out to Bone for comment before running the story.
Ken Bone was leaning Hillary after the debate but don’t worry by the time the media is finished with him he’ll be a Trump voter.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) October 14, 2016
Incredibly, Sykes actually claims that the “most damaging” part of Bone’s “disturbing” history is that he said, “From what I read about the case the shooting of Trayvon Martin was justified, but from what I’ve learned of Zimmerman through statements, interviews and behavior he is a big ole shit bird.”
After Sykes’ story took off, other mainstream news organizations quickly piled on.
Ken Bone rose to fame on Sunday. Five days later, these comments will finish him https://t.co/jfFfIIYgmY
— The Independent (@Independent) October 14, 2016
Ken Bone once bragged about committing insurance fraud and said Trayvon’s killing was justified https://t.co/XOwuYlc2SX
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) October 14, 2016
America’s favorite undecided voter left an NSFW comment trail on Reddit https://t.co/8EO6sp1kxr pic.twitter.com/ARhG25GHmy
— CNN (@CNN) October 14, 2016
But not everyone approved of the smear campaign against Bone.
And yet the media asks why so many people hate them. https://t.co/Hs11dO983m
— Carl Paulus (@CarlPaulus) October 14, 2016
why are you doing this pic.twitter.com/FFbYr4hT1l
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) October 14, 2016
@CNN This isn’t news and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 14, 2016
news outlets are vetting a guy who wore a red sweater more extensively than they investigated Trump’s questionable past during the primaries
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) October 14, 2016