While some people tuned in to watch the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, Anderson Cooper used his program to address criticisms of his Hurricane Florence coverage on Monday. He was especially irritated with Donald Trump Jr., the son of the president and a frequent instigator on conservative social media. On Sunday, Trump Jr. shared an image of Cooper and his crew supposedly shooting in an area flooded by Florence and accused them of “lying” and “[trying] to make [the president] look bad.” Unfortunately for Trump Jr. and his followers, however, the image is actually from Hurricane Ike in 2008.
“I debated whether I should even respond tonight to the president’s son,” Cooper began, before launching into Trump Jr. and those who shared the image under false pretenses:
“I know he considers himself an outdoorsman and pays a lot of money to be led to wildlife in Africa that he then kills. But I’m not sure if he’s actually been to a hurricane or a flood. I didn’t see him down in North Carolina over the last few days helping out, lending a hand, but I’m sure he was doing something important besides just tweeting lies.”
The anchor then played footage from the broadcast in question, providing context for what viewers were seeing through it all. This included a brief memorial for Doug Thomas, the audio tech seen in the viral image of the CNN crew. According to Cooper, Thomas worked at the network for 26 years and “died a year ago this month” on September 27th, 2017.
“I don’t expect the president’s son to ever admit that he was wrong or one of the president’s advisers or frankly anyone else who’s retweeted any of these pictures,” said Cooper by way of conclusion. “But I at least thought that they and you should know the truth.”
(Via GQ)