As Twitchy reported earlier Saturday, Scottish-American actor John Barrowman (“Arrow,” “Doctor Who”) has 525,000 followers to whom he tweeted a completely bogus (and “outrageous”) video of a woman opening an absentee ballot request featuring the president’s photo. This triggered her badly enough to shoot a video, and Barrowman forwarded it to his half-million followers.
And it’s still up (or was when we started writing this post; now it’s gone). Twitter, whose project lead assured us its No. 1 priority was election integrity, has yet to put one of those disinformation disclaimers over it.
This video with a woman talking about getting an absentee request form with Trump's face on it has gone viral, so let me explain: A government agency did not send it out, and it is not illegal or unusual for campaigns or political parties to send them https://t.co/lkFCGqnUUI
— Zach Montellaro (@ZachMontellaro) September 12, 2020
In any case, Barrowman’s sorry if he upset anyone. He was just doing whatever he could to hurt Trump’s reelection chances by making it seem like the president was tampering with the election.
Thanks everyone for all your updates and comments on the video re the absentee ballot video. Jb
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) September 12, 2020
Would really help if you provided the location of the woman who got the ballot. Which state is doing this, this way? And is it a state gov mailer or, as some have suggested, a trump mailer that has an absentee ballot registration tucked in?
— Appropriately Adult Online (@otherotheryan) September 12, 2020
I don’t have that info as it was a friend who sent me the video and she lives in the Uk. https://t.co/MmAUWiUdma
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) September 12, 2020
Looks like @JohnBarrowman is active on Twitter but he hasn’t deleted the incredibly misleading video he tweeted out about ballot applications. https://t.co/UwJN4okLl3
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 12, 2020
How is it incredibly misleading? I did ask people to find out if it was real. I also thanked everyone for their comments. But I can’t respond to every tweet retweet. Jb https://t.co/AdUcwZXYgL
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) September 12, 2020
How is it incredibly misleading? First, the woman in the video has no idea what she’s talking about, and second, Barrowman’s entire comment was, “This is outrageous.” That’s not asking people to find out if it’s real.
Thanks for the info… But I never said in any of my tweet where she got it from. I just posted the video as anyone who wants to defeat Trump would have. Sorry if it upset you. Jb https://t.co/tGFRJn3pB4
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) September 12, 2020
Wow so many people are super angry about that post. Also some nasty name calling. Did I strike a chord? Can I remind you I can post and delete have an opinion on my feed. It doesn’t mean I have to respond to you. So…
— John Barrowman MBE (@JohnBarrowman) September 12, 2020
Did you strike a chord? No, you forwarded something incredibly inciting and misleading and encouraged dopes to spread it even more, so yes, people are “super angry.”
Gotta say I’m very surprised @Twitter has allowed this misinformation about elections to stay online without even the warning label they put on the President’s “make sure your mail-in vote was counted” tweet this morning. https://t.co/SqxCCXyNEn
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 12, 2020
The guy even says the video came to him from someone in the UK.
So we have some kind of foreign video going insanely viral spreading misinformation about common election practices.
Kind of seems like the *exact* thing the new Twitter labeling policy was created for? https://t.co/3gdaOjGStR
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 12, 2020
Yes, Twitter, isn’t this the sort of election interference you were so concerned about? At least Jimmy Kimmel had the guts to delete his retweet.
Related:
‘Legit embarrassed for these people’: Trump-triggered Jimmy Kimmel & Bette Midler helped breathlessly ‘spread viral disinformation’ about absentee ballot request forms https://t.co/IZ4uM7GuzI
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 12, 2020
Join the conversation as a VIP Member