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Brian Stelter shows himself pantless on CNN to ‘humanize news’, gets mocked: ‘No time for pants, must bash Trump’

Although the light-hearted segment aimed to capture the 'ups and downs' of TV personalities working from in-home studios during the coronavirus pandemic it ended up rubbing people the wrong way

CNN's Brian Stelter was mocked for filming himself without pants while hosting a TV show from home in the bid to "humanize" the news. 

Although the light-hearted segment aimed to capture the "ups and downs" of TV personalities working from in-home studios during the coronavirus pandemic it ended up rubbing most of the people the wrong way. Stelter insisted that "embarrassing moments are humanizing moments," as he highlighted a viral clip from last April of ABC News correspondent Will Reeve appearing on 'Good Morning America' without pants. According to Stelter, Reeve was perhaps "too revealing." 

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He then mentioned that he could "relate" to Reeve before showing a clip of himself pantless during a CNN appearance. The clip of a pantless Stelter was reportedly shot on the night former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter in January. "This was me live on CNN with just two minutes notice talking to Wolf Blitzer about Trump's Twitter account being banned," Stelter told viewers as he tried to explain his bare thighs and calves. 

After his clip was mocked by Fox News' Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, Stelter took to Twitter to defend himself. "Poor Hannity, 'traumatized' by the sight of me wearing shorts during a breaking news live shot from home. For the rest of you, check out my entire report about pandemic-era TV news from home," he wrote in a tweet while noting in another, "First of all, I didn't film myself, @jamiestelter took this funny video of me wearing shorts and a blazer on air. Second, this four-second clip is NOT WORTH A NEWS STORY! Another 'hoax.'"

As the clips and photos of a pantless Stelter went viral on social media, a barrage of memes and posts were directed at the anchor for the little stunt his network decided to pull. "So if I’m following correctly, Brian gets 2 minutes notice to jump on CNN to talk about Trump getting banned from Twitter, does not have time for pants, but does have time to ask someone to take a video of him, pants-less," one of them said while another noted, "'No time for pants, must bash Trump.'" A third wrote, "You can't unsee it." One more remarked, "From the number one media supporters of the white house occupant. CNN. Train wreck all around."

The next commented, "Brian Stelter is one of the LAST people I want to see without pants on." Another noted, "LMFAO!!! Humanize the news? I think this image backfired on Brian Stelter. You wanna 'humanize' the news? Here's an idea. How about you actual did your damn jobs for once? And CNN wonders why people think they're a joke and why their ratings are down the toilet." A person reacted with, "A free tip, @cnn: 'humanizing' is not what the news media needs to improve your reputation. Truthful, unbiased reporting is. But go ahead and try reporters not wearing pants first."

A commenter tweeted, "What a perverted piece of human excrement @brianstelter truly is! He is ao comfortable without his pants in the workplace. Wow, what does that say about @CNN? I bet, a lot! Brian Stelter mocked for filming himself without pants during CNN appearance." Another quipped, "Little Brian Stelter is just doing his part to 'humanize journalism,' Rich..."