We had our doubts when Playboy’s Brian Karem claimed a young Hispanic boy on the Metro saw his press credentials and thought to ask him, “Why does the president hate me?” Nothing attracts curious young children more than press credentials hanging off a lanyard.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto has his own train story now, and this one, featuring Man on Left and Man on Right, has to do with the coronavirus and the debate over whether the country has descended into mass hysteria.
Conversation on the train:
Man on my left: “Coronavirus is just the flu. It’s all panic.” (Points to man on my right wearing a mask) “See? Mass hysteria.”
Man on right: “Actually I’m a microbiologist.”
Man on left: “Why a mask?”
Man on right: “I know how pandemics spread.”
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) March 5, 2020
Cool story bro.
#FakeNews pic.twitter.com/302D481YgG
— LeoTrollstoy (@SpaceForThePapa) March 6, 2020
This is just Stupid plain and simple
— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) March 6, 2020
— ?️Ѡąƨƙɛƪωɛɛ?Ɯѧßβiȶ ?️(pronoun-Hare Highness) (@WaskelweeWabbit) March 6, 2020
Conductor: "That conversation never happened."
— Austere Mama (@1Aplus2A) March 5, 2020
— Shooter Bails (@Shooter_Bails) March 6, 2020
Bravo on your creative writing assignment!
— Jen Conway (@HeyJenConway) March 6, 2020
— Quixote (@RealTimeCop) March 6, 2020
I’ll take “things that never happened” for $1000 Alex pic.twitter.com/SQjBAyCrLF
— alliemariEEEEEEEE???????? (@alliemarie777) March 6, 2020
Chances this happened: pic.twitter.com/7qtG5CN5wB
— Elizabeth Sollecito (@ElizabethSolle2) March 6, 2020
Pandemic story time with @CNN
— Rebecca Text TRUMP 88022 (@wepray4potus) March 6, 2020
ME: Train rides that never happened.
— Simply Irredeemable (@hrhjmm) March 5, 2020
Narrator: "He made this shit up."
— Judge Bean ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@truthforu2020) March 6, 2020
I was there, it happened….. my 3 year old son was the microbiologist. He is also an MSNBC contributor and writes for Huffpost. He's such an impressive little man.
— ReliableSores™️ (@Jonnie_Utah) March 6, 2020
— At Angie???????????? (@evangie) March 5, 2020
— Hotep Dad Max (@HotepDadMax) March 6, 2020
Is this one of those conversations that never happened? Advice is that masks are absolutely no use whatsoever.
— Warnzey Hog help (@Warnzwifey) March 5, 2020
Yawn.
Didn't happen.
— Ja Ja (in english its Ha Ha) (@Constantrunner) March 6, 2020
And then everyone on the train clapped and clapped. ?
— Trump2020⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@summerscs2020) March 7, 2020
I'm guessing this conversation is completely fictional.
— Abe Lebowitz (@hwrdcook) March 6, 2020
Its funny how random strangers always seem to be having a conversation within earshot thats relevant and follows an agenda you want to push…
— JustSomeRandomGuy (@Try2_Tri) March 6, 2020
This was a Holiday Inn Express commercial, wasn't it?
— Aaron Henager (@AaronHenager1) March 6, 2020
This story is made up.
— camsterdam ???? (@camsterdam) March 6, 2020
And everyone coughed and applauded.
— Furious Bongo (@FuriousBongo) March 6, 2020
This unequivocally didn’t happen
— MattWhitlockisasnowflake (@TrueToTrump1) March 6, 2020
I think it’s rude these guys were talking to each other with you in the middle.
— scottyp (@vvangopher) March 6, 2020
— After Dork (@Dork_After) March 5, 2020
More wonderful #Fearporn
— ??Weezy?? ??? (@sandyj1967) March 6, 2020
The microbiologist knows how pandemics spread yet is on a packed rush hour train… pic.twitter.com/nghHsctjiW
— Outside My Purview (@MyPurview) March 5, 2020
And apparently has been infected by the coronavirus and doesn’t want to infect everyone else on the train.
Is this an actual conversation?
Because the microbiologist is being a little panicky. Masks are best for patients who have the virus and medical workers in direct proximity to infected patients.
— Nicolas Falacci (@NickFalacci) March 5, 2020
So the microbiologist was sick and didn’t want to spread virus? While out and about, sitting on the train?
— ?️♀️Thinkologist ?✨?✨ (@Thinkologist1) March 6, 2020
This man is a fool. Surgical masks keep surgeons from coughing and sneezing in patients, not the other way around.
— Eric Nelson (@literaryeric) March 5, 2020
Why are we being told not to buy masks then?
— Patriot News (@LiberPatriot) March 5, 2020
100% incorrect. You wear a mask to protect others, not yourself.https://t.co/665inx9wMR
— Charro Avittia (@AvittiaCharro) March 5, 2020
Microbiologist lied. I am one and well. Viral particles are far smaller that bacteria and pass through the mask easily.
— Shep LyingDogFacedPonyRescuer Stahel (@shephappens2) March 6, 2020
I have a microbiologist in my family which was like the first person I called when this started blowing up. Don’t go to huge gatherings, stop shaking hands, and for God’s sake quit touching your face.
— Ｂｏｂ Ｃｏｂｂ (@gaba_ghoul) March 5, 2020
Was the microbiologist also wearing gloves? What if someone sneezed near him and it got into his eyes?
— mizrahit lover (@D_Dobrovetsky) March 6, 2020
A real microbiologist would only be wearing a mask because he himself was sick and he was protecting others from his own germs. Duh.
— Wziminer (@wziminer) March 6, 2020
A microbiologist wearing a mask is a microbiologist who thinks he has a respiratory infection. I'd move away from him on the train.
— Doug M #mcconnellPenceBarrTrump in that order (@lanceknecht) March 5, 2020
But… but…. the CDC said they don’t work like that?
— TeamNature (@StevIePRob) March 6, 2020
Here is a PSA currently running at #UN headquarters about not using face masks. This is in keeping with @WHO policy, a UN spokesperson told me. pic.twitter.com/x7CLbtc3do
— Toby Burns (@tobyburns1) March 5, 2020
So the man on the right knows more than every scientific expert out there saying the masks offer little to no protection?
This. Didn't. Happen.
— Helen Wheels (@HelenFortier) March 5, 2020
Sciutto apparently got wind of the pushback, so he offered up some more information on Man on Right:
Since this has sparked so many outrageous claims, this was a healthcare professional wearing what looked like an N95 mask which doctors says can reduce spread for those who are infected or suspect they may be. Many healthcare professionals treating infected patients wear them.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) March 5, 2020
So there.
Related:
Fake news: CNN’s Joe Lockhart gets 4,000 retweets for his made-up conversation between two GOP senators https://t.co/aMGj2z3tHl
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 22, 2020
