The Associated Press published a story this week about a small protest outside Netflix’s headquarters that was held in response to the company’s defense of comedian Dave Chappelle and his recent special. In the story, the Associated Press included a picture of a Chappelle supporter who “clashed” with protesters. The photo caption read: “Comedian and videographer Vito Gesualdi screams profanities as he engages with peaceful protesters begging him to leave outside the Netflix building in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.”
But according to Gesualdi, this never happened. He didn’t yell at protesters or “scream profanities.” All he did was yell, “I love Dave Chappelle,” he said.
“Comedian and videographer Vito Gesualdi screams profanities as he engages with peaceful protesters begging him to leave.”
Screams profanities? ?
Dude, I just yelled “I love Dave Chappelle!”
The media sucks! ? pic.twitter.com/74nkAFMFZp
— YOUTUBE.COM / VITO (@VitoGesualdi) October 21, 2021
Gesualdi also said that the anti-Chapelle protesters were not “peaceful,” grabbed him and his friend, and even tackled his friend to the ground.
As of Friday morning, the Associated Press had issued a correction to its photo caption, which now says, “Comedian and videographer Vito Gesualdi shouts at people protesting against Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special outside the Netflix building in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.” The correction reads, “Corrects caption to remove reference to Gesualdi using profanities, which he did not do at the moment the image was made. Also removes reference to protesters being peaceful because one protester destroyed his sign.”
If Gesualdi had not publicly drawn attention to the Associated Press’s lie, would this correction ever have been issued? Probably not.
Note that this kind of journalistic misconduct — it isn’t just bias, it’s the deliberate use of lies to promote an agenda — is becoming a lot more common at the Associated Press lately.
There’s a reason the outlet published the original false caption when it could have easily verified the interaction in question with the subject of the picture. It wanted to make Gesualdi out to be the bad guy because doing so fit the narrative the Associated Press had already adopted: that the Netflix protesters were trying to right a “wrong” that had been done to them and that anyone who disagreed was perpetuating said “wrong.”
Gesualdi should sue the Associated Press for libel, even if just to make a point. Until the media are forced to start paying for this kind of behavior, they will continue to lie and smear and mislead. This is only the latest example at an organization that was once considered reputable.
