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Who'll replace Steve Scully? C-SPAN host slammed for 'pulling a Bubba Wallace' after lying about Twitter hack

C-SPAN in a statement said that Scully had admitted to both the network and the Commission on Presidential Debates that his story about the hacking was untrue

On Thursday, October 15, public-affairs network C-SPAN placed host and producer Steve Scully on administrative leave after he falsely claimed that his Twitter feed had been hacked while he was preparing to moderate the second presidential debate. The debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic party nominee Joe Biden was later canceled.

In a statement, Scully said, "These actions have let down a lot of people, including my colleagues at C-SPAN, where I have worked for the past 30 years, professional colleagues in the media, and the team at the Commission on Presidential Debates. I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself." The statement was quoted by Variety.

After Trump’s refusal to participate in a “virtual” debate, and the debate ultimately getting canceled, Scully could not go ahead with his moderator duties. Scully further explained that he had been "subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator for the second presidential debate, including attacks aimed directly at my family". He added in his statement, "This culminated on Thursday, October 8th when I heard President Trump go on national television twice and falsely attack me by name. Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a new controversy, I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked."

C-SPAN in a statement said that Scully had admitted to both the network and the Commission on Presidential Debates that his story about the hacking was untrue. “We were very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions. During his 30 years at C-SPAN, Steve consistently demonstrated his fairness and professionalism as a journalist. He has built a reservoir of goodwill among those he has interviewed, fellow journalists, our viewers, and with us. Starting immediately, we have placed Steve on administrative leave. After some distance from this episode, we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN." The network did not give details regarding how long Scully might be off the air.

As reported by Politico, after Trump criticized Scully as a “never Trumper", Scully tweeted, "@Scaramucci should I respond to Trump." Scaramucci, a former Trump communications director and now a Trump critic, had reportedly advised Scully to ignore him.

Tim Murtaugh, communications director of the campaign, said in a statement, "Having a debate moderator lie to try to explain away a tweet that revealed his anti-Trump slant is bad, but it is far from the biggest problem with the biased Commission on Presidential Debates."

This announcement of sending Scully on leave created a buzz on Twitter. One user said, "The corporate media is dying because it considers people like Steve Scully and Savannah Guthrie to be distinguished journalists." Another commented, "Reminder that Steve Scully, who was caught lying, was supposed to be moderating a debate tonight. Bullet dodged."

A few people were comparing this situation to the Bubba Wallace’s ‘noose’ investigation. As reported earlier, Wallace came under the scanner when NASCAR said it was investigating him after a noose was found in his garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. According to ESPN, Wallace never saw the noose. It was first seen by a member of Wallace's team, who immediately brought it to the attention of NASCAR.

But later, FBI concluded that the object was, in fact, a garage door pull rope that may have been there since October last year. Even though Wallace was "relieved" to know that the rope found in his NASCAR garage stall wasn't targeted at him, he was not convinced it was an ordinary pull rope as determined by the FBI. But during that time there were allegations on the internet that the situation was another hoax like the Jussie Smollett case. Smollett is an American actor, accused of staging a hate crime against himself in 2019 by hiring men to physically attack him after racial and homophobic slurs. 

One user alleged, "@SteveScully pulled a Bubba and got caught. Didn’t take 13 FBI investigators to figure this one out. Am I right @BubbaWallace?" Another alleged, "Steve Scully is the Jussie Smollett of Bubba Wallace's.” One said, “@SteveScully @BubbaWallace and @JussieSmollett walk into a hoax...” One said, "Steve Scully is the Bubba Wallace of Jussie Smolletts."

There were others who were talking about his replacement. One stated, "Look Joe Rogan should replace Steve Scully, easy fix!" A user concurred, "Now that it’s proven that Steve Scully is a lying scumbag and never should of been chosen to moderate a president debate can we replace him with @joerogan?" Another stated, "It worked out well for Donna Brazile @donnabrazile. Steve is probably on track to replace Tucker with how Fox runs things today."

These remarks were made by the internet and individual organizations, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.