Did Vice President Mike Pence deliver empty boxes of PPE to a hospital as a publicity stunt? No, this is not true: Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel mocked a video of Pence delivering boxes that were "empty" to a health care center amid the coronavirus outbreak, but the clip he used was edited and taken out of context.
The video that went viral of Kimmel criticizing the vice president saying, "Well, can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?" The full video on C-SPAN shows the Vice President unloading boxes, delivering them to the hospital and making a joke about empty boxes.
The Kimmel video went viral on Twitter (archived here) where it was published by Matt McDermott on May 8, 2020. It opened:
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt.
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:
Jimmy Kimmel shared the clip during his monologue on May 7, 2020, ripping into "Magic Mike" Pence showing an edited video. The vice president was delivering supplies to a Virginia health care center as aid for health care workers during the coronavirus outbreak.
"Here he is with no mask on wheeling boxes of PPEs into a health care center and doing his best to lift them. What a hero. Just barely into the door," Kimmel sarcastically begins. "Since it was going so well and also because he didn't realize he had a mic on, Magic Mike decided to keep it going. Listen in closely here."
The clip shows Pence being told boxes are empty and he responds: "Well can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?"
Kimmel continues: "Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPEs into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he's doing. A big box of nothing, delivering another box of nothing."
Here is Kimmel's monologue still on YouTube where it has earned over 250,000 views as of Friday afternoon.
The clip shown by Kimmel is edited and doesn't show the full video, which is available on CSPAN. Lead Stories isolated the relevant section in this clip:
During the longer 9-minute video, the Vice President is lifting boxes out of a van with the helped of a soldier in fatigues and other men, putting them on a dolly and wheeling them to the front door of the health center.
Pence returns to the van and is told by one of the men that the boxes left inside are empty.
"Those are empty, sir," he is told and replies: "Well can I carry the empty ones? Just for the camera?"
The video went viral after it was posted on Friday morning on Twitter by Matt McDermott.
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
-- Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
Here is the full 9 minute video on C-SPAN
Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj
-- Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
After being shown the longer video, McDermott responds to Pence "joking" about a publicity stunt.
Additional context to @jimmykimmel segment. With 75,000 Americans dead, Pence is joking about about empty boxes of PPE during a publicity stunt, after the White House press secretary said they had no time for "publicity stunts" in the middle of a crisis. https://t.co/hFeSp83lJs
-- Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020
Kimmel deleted the Tweet and was called out Twitter by BuzzFeed editor Dave Mack:
Here I cut the clip. Pence and the other officials lift boxes that clearly weigh something (i.e. contain things). Pence returns to the car, makes the empty box comment with a smirk, guy responds with crack of his own, they laugh, Pence closes door https://t.co/KMQeLPfhei
-- David Mack (@davidmackau) May 8, 2020
A spokesman for Vice President Pence tweeted about it, too:
C'mon @CNBC - this is a deceptively edited video. He's clearly joking & never lifts an empty box. Watch the full clip @ChristinaWilkie @_DanMangan https://t.co/ITawaY1WxL https://t.co/3YPgWaRFys
-- Jon Thompson (@JonThompsonDC) May 8, 2020
