source:
Daily News
Florida Republican's aide fired after pushing right-wing conspiracy that school shooting survivors are ‘actors’
Benjamin Kelly, an aide for Florida GOP Rep. Shawn Harrison, was fired Tuesday. (TWITTER)
An aide to a Florida state congressman was fired Tuesday after pushing a right-wing conspiracy theory that disparages survivors of last week's school shooting as "actors."
Benjamin Kelly, GOP Rep. Shawn Harrison's district secretary, prompted outrage after
telling a Tampa Bay Times reporterthat two Parkland, Fla., students who had appeared in a TV interview were in fact "actors" who "travel to various crisis when they happen."
"Both kids in the picture are not students," Kelly wrote to the reporter in an email from his official account, linking to a widely-debunked conspiracy theory perpetuated by right-wing websites.
The students in question, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, survived a gruesome shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday that
left 17 people dead. The 19-year-old gunman, Nikolas Cruz, used to attend the school and wielded an AR-15 assault rifle as he senselessly gunned down his former classmates and teachers.
As Kelly's shocking email made the rounds on social media, Harrison issued a statement rebuking his staffer's comments as "insensitive and inappropriate." Less than an hour later, Kelly announced that he had been fired.
Kelly falsely claimed David Hogg, pictured, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is an "actor." (MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES)
"I made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of information relating to his story regarding a school shooting," Kelly
tweeted. "This was not my responsibility. I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland."
Kelly did not respond to a string of emailed questions from the Daily News about whether he really believes that Hogg and Gonzalez are actors. In a follow-up tweet, the disgraced district secretary quoted a Bible verse: "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
"I am appalled at and strongly denounce his comments about the Parkland students," Harrison said. "I am again sorry for any pain this has caused the grieving families of this tragedy."
Kelly falsely claimed student Emma Gonzalez, pictured, is an "actor." (JONATHAN DRAKE/REUTERS)
Kelly's shocking comments were based in part on an inflammatory conspiracy theory pushed by the pro-Trump Gateway Pundit site that claims Hogg has been "coached on anti-Trump lines" by his ex-FBI agent father.
Jacelyn Corin, a student at Stoneman Douglas, took to Twitter Tuesday night to inform Kelly that she and her friends are "KIDS — not actors."
Rep. Shawn Harrison called his former aide's comments "insensitive and inappropriate." (TOM WILLIAMS/CQ-ROLL CALL,INC.)
"We are KIDS that have grown up in Parkland all of our lives," Corin
tweeted. "We are KIDS who feared for our lives while someone shot up our school. We are KIDS working to prevent this from happening again. WE ARE KIDS."