March 13, 2024

It's not just anti-sex trafficking activist Karla Jacinto Romero who has been dragged into politics by Republicans. Fox News has a habit of using people for political gain, like 22-year-old Venezuelan migrant Jhoan Boada, who was smeared by the network before he was exonerated. MSNBC's Chris Hayes takes on Fox News over the network's "misinformation sickness."

"That was Karla Jacinto Romero with good advice that Republicans absolutely refused to take," Hayes said. "Her story, her horrible story, appropriated by Katie Britt. The twisted claims were wildly and grossly misleading. She implied it was happening in the U.S. now because of Biden's border policy."

"But here's the thing. That's gotten a lot of attention. It's a dime a dozen when it comes to right-wing immigrant fear-mongering," he continued. "Remember this guy? Remember him? He's a migrant from Venezuela named Jhoan Boada."

"He was the focus of the right-wing media's hate last month after he was accused of being part of a gang that attacked NYPD officers in Times Square, and then he was subsequently photographed flipping the bird while leaving court," the MSNBC host said. "And to be clear, when I saw that image and this story break earlier this year, I thought if I were a Fox News producer or worked the New York Post, I'd be running with this. And I'm a bleeding heart liberal, and even I found this image provocative. So did actual Fox producers who covered Boada in at least, get this, 84 segments over 38 days, according to Media Matters.

"And the hate fest even went from Fox News to a political ad cut by a pro-Trump super PAC," Hayes said. "But then this month, guess what happened? Manhattan prosecutors dropped the charges against Boada."

"You know why? They told the judge that further investigation proved that Boada, that guy who had always professed his innocence, did not participate in the attack in question," he added. "They misidentified him. It wasn't him. They got the wrong guy, not him. He didn't do it. Have you seen coverage of that? You think they've run 84 segments on Fox News about that?"

Boada should sue them. Like Hayes, I found the image disturbing, but that's what happens when you don't see the whole story, and that's Fox News's intention.

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