Talk radio host Glenn Beck did not say out loud this week that he would stab GOP front-runner Donald Trump, contrary to what several news outlets initially reported.
Rather, the political commentator and surrogate to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joked about harming his co-host and producer Stu Burguiere.
The Hill, the Daily Caller, Breitbart and Mediaite reported Friday morning that Beck had jokingly remarked about harming a presidential candidate. But not long after those stories were published, Burguiere went on social media to clarify that the reports were erroneous.
“[I]f you were listening, you know that Glenn actually threatened ME, not Donald Trump. So, I am now stuck in the odd situation of defending my boss for threatening my life,” he said on a note posted to Facebook. “[H]e said TO ME, not to any of the candidates, but TO ME, “if I were close enough and had a knife, the stabbing would not stop.”
“To be fair to the media, some sites edited the transcript, so getting the wrong idea was somewhat understandable. They also didn’t know by just those few seconds of audio that we were in different locations,” he added. “Glenn was in DC at [the Conservative Political Action Conference], I was in Dallas. That’s why he said ‘if I were close enough.'”
“Additionally, this is how we bust on each other all the time,” he wrote. “If you listen at all you know that.”
Um @dailycaller. He was saying he’d stab me, his co-host. I made fun of his ‘sitting in shoes’ flub. https://t.co/kH8l5RLTVY
— STU BURGUIERE (@WorldOfStu) March 4, 2016
The moment in question came as Beck and his co-hosts discussed a GOP primary debate held this week in Detroit. At the very end of the evening, the four GOP candidates, Sens. Cruz and Marco Rubio, R-Fla, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Trump, were each asked if they would pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
Though each candidate affirmed they’d remain loyal by supporting the party, Beck did not agree. That’s when he joked about “stabbing,” and a few reporters misunderstood the context of his joke.
The Hill, Mediaite and the Daily Caller have since corrected the record, and the reporters behind the incorrect stories have apologized and issued retractions.
