Twitter labeled a video produced by Jimmy Kimmel and shared by a verified account on the platform as “manipulated media” Friday.
The video, deceptively edited by Kimmel, shows Vice President Mike Pence suggesting he should pick up empty boxes that were full of personal protective equipment (PPE) for a photo shoot. Vice President of Whitman Insight Strategies Matt McDermott posted the video on Twitter and claimed that Pence was “caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt.”
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller Friday that McDermott’s tweet of Kimmel’s video had been labeled based on the platform’s Synthetic and Manipulated Media policy.
The video went viral and fake news spread that Pence was caught giving empty boxes as a public relations stunt. Journalists and some liberal activists criticized Pence before the video was determined to have been doctored.
WATCH:
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
The full video shows Pence delivering PPE to a hospital and then joking about delivering some empty boxes for the photographs. No empty boxes were delivered, the full video indicates.
Kimmel deleted his tweet of the deceptive video earlier Friday and issued a half-apology where he appeared to mock the Trump administration. (RELATED: Late-Night Hosts Jimmy Fallon And Jimmy Kimmel Post Shows From Home Amid Coronavirus)
“It would appear that @vp was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt,” Kimmel tweeted. “The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values truth.”
McDermott also clarified his original tweet but has not yet deleted it. He noted that “Pence is joking about about empty boxes of PPE during a publicity stunt.”
“Additional context to @jimmykimmel segment,” McDermott tweeted. “With 75,000 Americans dead, Pence is joking about about empty boxes of PPE during a publicity stunt, after the White House press secretary said they had no time for ‘publicity stunts’ in the middle of a crisis.”