Although I've been reporting my suspicions (and other people's) about the truthfulness and integrity of Fox News contributor Steven Crowder's report of being assaulted by pro-union "thugs" at a Lansing, Michigan union protest of "right-to-work" legislation, Crowder's dishonesty is no longer in doubt. His video has been shown to be selectively edited and he has admitted pushing the man who later hit him (after pretending otherwise).
On the night that Crowder first appeared for his lapdog interview with Sean Hannity, I wrote that there was something a little too James O'Keefe about Crowder that made me think he was not being honest about the "vicious attack" on him, caught and presented in an edited video, and which just happened to coincide with his virulently, Breitbart-esque anti-union, anti-left agenda. I became even more suspicious when, during the interview, Crowder admitted he had gone to the pro-union protest to make trouble. Still, he told Hannity his beating was “completely physically unprovoked.”
The next night, in another Hannity segment, a guest accused Crowder of first pushing the man who later punched him - which Crowder, despite a series of dancing, diversionary responses, did not deny. However, Crowder did accuse that guest of being a liar after he made the allegation.
In a moment of delicious irony, it turns out the video segment that incriminated Crowder was released - almost certainly inadvertently - by the Hannity show.
But now, Crowder has admitted to pushing the man - exactly what he pretended to deny on Hannity. Tommy Christopher writes:
However, in an interview with Canada’s Sun News, Crowder says he actually did push the protesters whom he says were “ransacking the tent.”
“We didn’t get violent with them,” Crowder said, “but we did try to push them off the tent. That is true. We tried to push them off the tent,” and also claimed “I’ve been very honest about this.”
"Very honest?" Crowder could hardly have been less forthcoming or more deceptive about what happened. On the night of his second segment with Hannity, after the other guest had accused Crowder of pushing the union protester, Hannity said, "Wait a minute. Steven, you didn’t push anybody.” Crowder did not correct the record other than to say that Hannity had the "unedited tape." You might say that Crowder wanted you to think he had not pushed anybody before he admitted that he had.
So where is Fox News in all this? Stretching over the facts in order to smear President Obama in at least one instance. Yesterday, I posted on Crooks and Liars that Fox ignored questions about Crowder's video at the same time that Fox & Friends used it to attack the left. Specifically, I wrote:
Rather than deal with accusations that their own Steven Crowder deliberately provoked an altercation with Michigan labor unions and then hyped a questionably edited video as proof of their “thuggery,” Fox News pretended that the big issue surrounding the demonstrations over the so-called “right to work legislation” is left-wing violence and President Obama’s failure to condemn it.
Even if you believe that President Obama is somehow at fault for not speaking out against whatever happened, that in no way excuses Fox from condemning the dissembling, deception and deliberate sleights of hand that came from one of their own contributors. It's one thing to run with and promote a false story, as the network did with the sham ACORN videos, e.g. It's quite another to run with and promote a false story from one of their own. And then remain silent about it. Here's my search of "Crowder" of Fox News videos. Here's a search of "Steven Crowder" on FoxNews.com. This is the kind of thing Fox News would run with 24/7 if it was another news outfit making such a mistake.
Whatever happened to Crowder should be sorted out through the criminal justice system - something he was oddly reluctant to do initially. But now there are reports that he has filed a complaint with Michigan police. Fine. If he was assaulted, I'm all for an arrest, trial and sentencing of the perpetrator. But Fox is still on the hook for its own misleading (at best) reporting no matter what.
Fox deliberately inserted itself into this story and made it a big deal. Its viewers deserve a big "mea culpa" from them now - and a full airing of the unedited video and all the facts that are known.
3/13/18 Update: The video that originally accompanied this post is no longer available.