Florida Dept. of Health spox scolds MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for cutting off his response to story

The Florida Department of Health press secretary scolded MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Thursday, accusing the left-wing host of seeking comment about the state’s surgeon general nominee, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, only 39 minutes before her show began and then only airing a portion of the statement provided. 

Maddow opened her program by examining America's Frontline Doctors, a controversial group that praised the benefits of using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients in a viral video in 2020. At the time, The New York Times pointed to recent studies that have questioned the effectiveness of the treatment and called the video "the most recent example of misinformation that has spread" concerning the virus.

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"For all the COVID grifts and all the nonsense associated with this group, you might expect a congressional investigation, potentially a law enforcement investigation as well. You might not expect the leader of a state with one of the highest body counts from COVID to look to someone from that group to become the top health official in the state," Maddow said, who went on 

"But, behold, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, that is exactly what he has done. A few months ago Ron DeSantis chose this guy, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, as seen here at the 2020 America's Frontline Doctors outside the Supreme Court. Govenor DeSantis chose him to be the new surgeon general of Florida," Maddow continued, noting that Dr. Ladapo has downplayed elements of the pandemic in media appearances. 

The far-left MSNBC host told viewers that Ladapo rose to prominence "on the basis of him staking his credibility on being a frontline doctor" who "spent time as a physician treating many, many, many COVID patients," adding that he has penned op-eds about his experience at UCLA’s flagship hospital, but passed along reporting that he was "misleading the public about his experience treating COVID patients there."

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"The press secretary for the Florida Department of Health responded by calling our request comment ‘cute.’ That was an actual quote," Maddow said before displaying a portion of Florida Department of Health press secretary Jeremy Redfern’s response. 

MSNBC’s on-air graphic quoted Redfern saying, "Thanks for reaching out to ask about this unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. It’s cute that you’re asking for comment…" 

"This is a state government," Maddow snarked.

Redfern turned to Twitter himself and called out Maddow for not airing his entire statement. He then shared what he said is the response he sent to Maddow’s team that was replaced by an ellipsis when presented to MSNBC viewers. 

"Hey @Maddow," Redfern wrote. "Is there a reason you didn’t finish reading the rest of the sentence from that statement I sent you?"

Redfern attached an image of the complete statement. 

"Thanks for reaching out to ask about this unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. It’s cute that you’re asking for comment at 8:21 pm, 39 minutes before your deadline, expecting that I wouldn’t respond. I’m willing to bet that your show prep is already done, and your story is already written," Redfern said his complete message to Maddow stated. 

MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Maddow said she "tried to find" any evidence that Dr. Ladapo did treat COVID patients at UCLA but was unsuccessful. MSNBC then aired footage of Dr. Ladapo appearing to evade a question about whether he believes COVID vaccines are effective from his confirmation hearing. The legislature's Democrats, disappointed with the responses, walked out of the hearing and said they would not vote to confirm Ladapo. 

Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.