Old tweets reveal CNN reporter used to mock network: 'CNN is really confused'

CNN’s Oliver Darcy ridiculed his current employer before he worked there, but a CNN spokesperson said he was just doing his job.

Old tweets sent by CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy in which he mocked his current employer for everything from its chyrons to accusing the network of allowing guests to make stuff up on its airwaves have been unearthed.

The conservative site The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra tweeted Thursday night that “CNN's Oliver Darcy, who regularly bemoans any attacks on the media, attacked CNN before joining the network” before sending a series of Darcy’s old shots at CNN.

“At what point does CNN not let people just make stuff up on the airwaves? One thing to argue for your guy, another to just invent things,” Darcy tweeted in April 2016.

Back in 2014, Darcy joked that it was “some hard-hitting breaking news from CNN” after the network tweeted about a seaplane that almost landed on a whale. That same year, he wrote that CNN star Don Lemon “has no idea what an automatic weapon is” and also wrote, “I seriously can’t remember the last time I looked up at CNN and didn’t see the ‘BREAKING NEWS’ banner.”

“The 2014 Darcy is gonna be super pissed when he meets the 2018 version of himself and sees who he works for,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck tweeted.

“CNN is really confused, reporting Hurricane Joaquin just became a category 2 storm,” Darcy wrote in 2015 during coverage of the storm.

Saavedra also found an old tweet sent from Darcy’s account in which he sent a screen grab of CNN’s website after a 2015 Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The page is filled with glowing coverage of Clinton to which Darcy chimed in, “Tell us how you really feel CNN.”

Political commentators James Hasson, Jerry Dunlevy, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck and former MTV star Chet Cannon also unearthed old tweets sent by Darcy. There were several tweets from Darcy’s account in which CNN was lampooned for low ratings and messages critical of CNN when then-staffer Donna Brazile allegedly leaked town hall questions to Clinton during the Democratic primary against Bernie Sanders back in 2015.

Darcy also posted several bizarre images and tweets from the network, such as Kathy Griffin in a bra, and captioned them, "This is CNN." But the network is standing by Oliver – who was paid to cover media long before he worked at CNN.

“Oliver was critical of CNN before, just as he is now. CNN is a place where opinions and ideas are valued. And we encourage staff to share their thoughts about the organization – both positive and critical. While this might seem like an exotic concept to you, we’d headline it ‘Media Reporter Does Job.’ This is a nothing story,” a CNN spokesperson told Fox News.

Former CNN host Reza Aslan also weighed in, saying on Twitter, "This is 100% BS."

"When I was doing Believer I would get calls to my cell phone seconds after I tweeted something critical of ⁦‪@CNN⁩ urging me to delete the tweet," Aslan wrote. "I was once told off simply for RTing a ⁦‪@gaywonk⁩ vid."

Darcy was once considered a rising star of conservative media and was even named to Red Alert Politics “30 Under 30” list of young, right-leaning leaders back in 2013. He began his career making online videos that exposed hypocrisy among liberal college students and eventually landed at Glenn Beck’s The Blaze.

“Sometimes I wonder what the @oliverdarcy who worked at The Blaze would think about the Oliver Darcy who works at CNN,” Hasson tweeted.

Darcy has been at CNN since 2017, part of Brian Stelter’s CNN Money media team, where he frequently criticizes conservative media.