On Monday, CNN’s Brian Stelter said, “There was a rush to judgment” in the case of Jussie Smollett’s alleged hate crime, but it did not come from media outlets.

“I think it was mostly in the celebrity press and among activists and among Twitter people. I think it was a really careful reporting by news organizations. But it all gets lumped in together at the end of the day,” he said.

With Stelter’s claim thoroughly debunked by our own Caleb Howe, and many others, the CNN media correspondent’s remarks were heavily criticized.

Today, @brianstelter: “There was a rush to judgment… mostly in the celebrity press… activists… Twitter people. I think it was a really careful reporting by news organizations.”

CNN, January 29: “Empire” actor victim of racist and homophobic assault”https://t.co/43cvuA5QZC pic.twitter.com/Hrar2tXWzI — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) February 18, 2019

Please stop gaslighting us. We know what went wrong. https://t.co/7aYcVG1xDU — Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 18, 2019

This has been thoroughly debunked by myself & a whole lot of others and he’s still pushing it. Now ask yourselves why. https://t.co/rHtstHwcgc — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) February 18, 2019

So if it’s true, it’s a reflection on Trump and his supporters. But if it’s false, it’s not a reflection on all the people who blamed it on Trump and his supporters. Neat trick, Brian! https://t.co/NQTCr78Vop — Currently between fraudulent suspensions (@jtLOL) February 18, 2019

Media reporter who only ever defends the media. https://t.co/dFFnv84rls — Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 18, 2019

The flip side of this is that media who DID pursue the case got raked across the coals. You’d think they’d at least be worth defending. https://t.co/WVGF4lRtzO — Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) February 18, 2019

In which @BrianStelter tries to gaslight the public. We all saw it happen in real time. There was no careful reporting by the news. They amplified voices of the people with agendas. The people vested in this being a “hate crime.” Brian is the epitome of why media is despised. https://t.co/RkMaCCfglG — RBe (@RBPundit) February 18, 2019



Stelter’s comments came after Vox’s Liz Plank stated the people who were sharing the “This is MAGA country” quote in the initial reporting were not reputable news sources during Sunday’s episode of Reliable Sources.

“The people who were repeating that quote were not news outlets…It was repeated by, sure, people who maybe had good intentions of wanting to spread the story…We can’t confuse celebrity tweets with the media and the press,” she said.

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