CNN mocked for reporting Rep. Lieu grabbed a crowbar amid Capitol riot -- it was actually an energy bar
'He grabbed a ProBar energy bar,' CNN says in updated story
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
CNN was widely mocked on Thursday for an embarrassing gaffe that declared Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., "grabbed a crowbar" as an angry mob stormed the Capitol last week when the lawmaker actually grabbed an energy bar.
CNN issued a correction, clarifying that Lieu was simply hungry as opposed to the original report that misled readers into thinking he grabbed a crowbar to defend himself.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Rep. Ted Lieu grabbed a crowbar before leaving his office. He grabbed a ProBar energy bar," the updated CNN story said.
The story, "How a swift impeachment was born under siege," featured the bylines of four reporters – Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly, Lauren Fox and Manu Raju – and was swiftly lampooned by critics.
"Imagine four reporters at CNN and countless editors who saw the piece before it was published thinking Ted Freaking Lieu grabbed a crowbar in the midst of the Capitol riots," Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer observed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
"California Rep. Ted Lieu was forced to evacuate his office in the Cannon Office Building as insurrectionists converged on the Capitol. Grabbing a ProBar energy bar in his office, Lieu said he and his chief of staff called the top aide to Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline while wandering the halls and asked if they could hunker down in Cicilline's office in the Rayburn House Office Building," the four CNN reporters wrote in the updated version of the story.
"Notice how the original of this ridiculous story depicted Rep. Lieu as a crowbar wielding hero, not as the corrected version describes as a guy so calm he grabbed an ‘organic energy chew,’" Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Others took to Twitter with thoughts on the correction: