CNN issued an on-air apology Thursday for erroneously featuring a quote from a satirical social media account during a discussion about Senator Mitch McConnell's health.
During Wednesday's "CNN This Morning" program, the network displayed several statements from conservatives regarding McConnell's absence from public view. Among these was a quote attributed to a fictional congressman, 'Representative Jack Kimble,' who claimed to have spoken with the senator.
Audie Cornish, host of "CNN This Morning," addressed the error at the beginning of Thursday's broadcast. "Yesterday on the show, we displayed quotes from a Republican, some Republicans, about Senator Mitch McConnell’s stay in the hospital," Cornish stated. "One of them was mistakenly taken from a parody account on Twitter. Now, obviously, we should not have done that, and we regret the error."
The quote from the fake congressman, who has approximately 123,000 followers on X, stated, "I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He's still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 45 minutes."
This account has previously been known to mislead users. The "Jack Kimble" persona, also known by the X username @RepJackKimble, is a fictional and satirical character with a dedicated Wikipedia page detailing its history of fabricating posts, including a 2010 claim that U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan cost then-President Bush no money.
Senator McConnell, 84, was hospitalized on June 14 after being found unconscious in his Kentucky home. The specific details of his health issues have not been disclosed. He is currently serving his final term, which concludes in January, and previously served as the longest-serving Senate leader in history before stepping down from that role in November.
The satirical account also commented on CNN's mistake, posting a photo of the segment and writing, "CNN’s extreme leftwing bias exposed."