MSNBC host Ronan Farrow found himself in hot water on Tuesday, thanks to a poorly-worded graphic that made it seem like the 26-year-old was asking viewers to weigh in on people who jumped to their deaths from the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 attacks.
For the record, Farrow was asking about the BASE jumpers who turned themselves in to the NYPD on Monday. The four men had jumped off the One World Trade Center building back in the fall of 2013, but made safe landings on the ground below with the help of their equipment.
But when the ‘Heroes or Zeroes’ segment graphic with the words “WTC jumpers” appeared on-screen, some viewers apparently got confused. And even those who understood the context from the segment also understood the accidental insensitivity.
WTC Jumpers?? You should stick to trolling on CompuServe message boards. @RonanFarrow
— MR. Marty (@gigg423) March 25, 2014
@RonanFarrow @msnbc Please use a little decorum next time when discussing base jumpers pic.twitter.com/rZMiEiVD6g
— Greg Brohamer (@gregbrohamer) March 25, 2014
Ronan Farrow is talking about the base jumpers who jumped off 1 WTC this week, but should know better bc Falling Man is iconic to 9/11. #prt
— Daniel (@MountainHerder) March 25, 2014
Looks like @ronanfarrow‘s chryon writers had a moment of insensitivity. Should’ve written “skyflyers”, not “jumpers”. #BCarefulWithTheChryon
— Kevin Grüssing (@KevDGrussing) March 25, 2014
I just made the connection between the Ronan Farrow chyron and 9/11. I thought it was bad enough before that, but damn son…
— Sylvan Lane (@SylvanLane) March 25, 2014
At the end of his show, Farrow clarified the graphic mistake, saying it was meant to reference the BASE jumpers. But by that point, the damage had been done. There is a silver lining for him, however:
Well look at it this way: people are talking about Ronan Farrow.
— ಠ_socratic_ಠ (@socratic) March 25, 2014
