Radar Online filed this report as an “exclusive” and announced that in a “new interview” with Time magazine, anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy is “changing her tune” on vaccines and autism.
https://twitter.com/radar_online/status/419253089531482112
Here’s a screenshot of the article about the co-host of the “The View”:
First problem? That “new interview with Time magazine” linked in Radar’s article is dated Feb. 25, 2010.
Also guys that Jenny McCarthy article is from 2010, how did it suddenly go nuts today?
— Peaugh (@Peaugh) January 4, 2014
It recently resurfaced on Reddit and the Twitter buzz machine went into overdrive.
This McCarthy thing is just bizarre. Radar has a post today saying it's new, but linking to the 2010 Time article. http://t.co/12gSCZq1jA
— Black Lives Matter Jennifer Mendelsohn (@CleverTitleTK) January 4, 2014
https://twitter.com/buzzbishop/status/419500208435654656
That Jenny McCarthy rumor came via Reddit I think, then Radar.
— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) January 4, 2014
This new Jenny McCarthy thing about her son is quoting a Time article from 2010 you can only read as a subscriber. Let's all simmer down.
— Dan R. (@dsrbroadway) January 4, 2014
Has anyone actually seen this "new" interview with @jennymccarthy that everyone's upset about? outlet reporting it links to a 2010 article!
— Andrea Dresdale (@AndreaDresdale) January 4, 2014
Recommended
Access to the 2010 Time interview is limited to subscribers, but a copy archived by the Wayback Machine indicates Radar misrepresented what McCarthy said to Time. From the Time article:
McCarthy’s way, however, is one that flies in the face of all credible research on what does and does not cause autism and whether it can be treated. McCarthy claims Evan was healed through a range of experimental and unproved biomedical treatments; even more controversially, she blames the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine for giving her son autism.
On the second page of the article, the author asks, “Was her son ever really autistic?”
McCarthy is calling b.s.
@DVJoh3280 Old untrue article. He was diagnosed with autism. Sadly.
— Jenny McC-Wahlberg (@JennyMcCarthy) January 3, 2014
@beckardi69 rumors not true. He was diagnosed by UCLA and by the state of California with autism in 2005. Wish he hadn't been.
— Jenny McC-Wahlberg (@JennyMcCarthy) January 3, 2014
Stories circulating online, claiming that I said my son Evan may not have autism after all, are blatantly (cont) http://t.co/flTB2UkeXD
— Jenny McC-Wahlberg (@JennyMcCarthy) January 4, 2014
McCarthy’s full post via TwitLonger:
Stories circulating online, claiming that I said my son Evan may not have autism after all, are blatantly inaccurate and completely ridiculous. Evan was diagnosed with autism by the Autism Evaluation Clinic at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital and was confirmed by the State of California (through their Regional Center). The implication that I have changed my position, that my child was not initially diagnosed with autism (and instead may suffer from Landau-Kleffner Syndrome), is both irresponsible and inaccurate. These stories cite a “new” Time Magazine interview with me, which was actually published in 2010, that never contained any such statements by me. Continued misrepresentations, such as these, only serve to open wounds of the many families who are courageously dealing with this disorder. Please know that I am taking every legal measure necessary to set this straight.
Radar got the story wrong. But is McCarthy suggesting — with a straight face — that “inaccurate” stories about autism and vaccines are “irresponsible”? Say it ain’t so, Jenny!
To sum up her post:
Jenny McCarthy speaks. http://t.co/7ZpH1ggM3k Very sorry about her son. She's still an irresponsible and shameless idiot.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) January 4, 2014
so @JennyMcCarthy hates it when ppl tell stupid lies about medicine that harms children? Funny, I agree @jpodhoretz
— (((Aaron “Worthing” Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) January 4, 2014
Radar published a new article reporting McCarthy’s tweets, but the original post has not been corrected.
Jenny McCarthy: ‘My Son Does Have Autism’ http://t.co/T1uY37epFS #JennyMcCarthy
— Radar Online (@radar_online) January 4, 2014
As for Jenny McCarthy, like the Times Square tot on New Year’s Eve, we’re still giving her a well-deserved side eye.
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Update:
Radar has quietly deleted its original post.
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