Another Right-Wing Lie Debunked As Michael Brown Audio Recording Is Not A Hoax

mike brown ferguson


On Thursday evening, a social media company confirmed that the audio recording that CNN released Monday purporting to be from the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson was recorded at the same exact time that the killing took place. Glide, a video texting service, released a statement saying that the sounds of gunshots on the recording was captured by a user in Ferguson at 12:02 PM on August 9th. In essence, the company has authenticated the recording as the shots fired by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.

A Glide user living nearby (whose identity is being protected) was simply using the Glide app on their smartphone exactly as it was designed – to instantly communicate with a friend through our real-time video texting service. Simultaneously, they also captured audio in the background of the gunshots allegedly fired at Michael Brown.

Because Glide is the only messaging application using streaming video technology, each message is simultaneously recorded and transmitted, so the exact time can be verified to the second. In this case, the video in question was created at 12:02:14 PM CDT on Saturday, August 9th.

Over the past few days, conservative media have lambasted CNN for releasing the audio. One of the main issues right-wingers have had with the recording is that CNN’s Don Lemon, when breaking the news, specifically pointed out that the network could not independently verify the recording. Of course, Lemon did have on the lawyer of the man who recorded the shots (the Ferguson resident remains unidentified) and stated that the FBI had already interviewed the lawyer and man. While covering themselves with a blanket disclaimer, CNN was still confident enough to run the recording with the knowledge that it wouldn’t come back to bite them as a hoax.

However, that wasn’t good enough for the conservative media entertainment complex. They latched onto any spurious details they could find that might somehow prove that the recording was indeed fake. It started earlier this week when CNN had two former police officers on to discuss the authenticity of the recording. Even though both so-called experts specifically said they no idea one way or the other of the legitimacy of the recording, they both provided their personal opinions and thoughts regarding the tape. Basically, they thought it was likely a hoax and a way for someone to “punk” the network.

Below is video of the CNN segment:

Well, that was enough to start the right-wing screech-a-thon. All the usual suspects jumped on this huge ‘bombshell’ right away – The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Hot Air – declaring that experts debunked the recording as a hoax. Of course, nothing of the sort actually occurred. But that isn’t going to stop conservative media outlets from trying to change the narrative. The king of right-wing blubbery, Rush Limbaugh, not only claimed that the audio was a hoax, but attacked the man who made the recording for allegedly using Glide for sexting.

RUSH: Wait a second, stop the tape, stop, stop, cue this back. So now (laughing) this is great, CNN. Here we’ve got a guy involved in a — what do you call it, sexting? Here’s a guy involved in a sex chat, and he happens now to be a CNN source, so of course the first thing we have to do is say, “Hey, hey, nothing strange here. A lot of red-blooded American men do this. Ain’t no big deal, audience. So don’t discredit our new source because you might think he is a reprobate. No, no, no, no, no. We even have some people at CNN that do this.” Well, he didn’t say that, but that’s how — (laughing) and they tape themselves doing it, too. It’s just so common, nothing to see here on that score. Don’t be negatively affected by the fact that the guy is doing whatever he’s doing to his computer. Okay, here it is again from the top.

RUSH: Oh, is that why it took over a week, the guy didn’t know who to call? CNN’s probably walking by the house every day. How many media people were there? This guy is close enough to hear the shots, right? He and his computer are close enough for his computer to pick up the shots, and he can’t find a media person. He doesn’t know who to call. He doesn’t know how to reach them. He apparently can’t look out the window that picked up all these shots and see an army of media people out there. He didn’t know what to do. So somehow the guy finds CNN.

Now, we love Don Lemon here. Don Lemon, I mean, this guy’s a gem. We love him here. I hope nothing ever happens to him.

Salon’s John Avignone had the perfect response to Rush’s criticism of the man for apparently using his computer to chat with a female in a provocative way.

It was an ironic line of criticism to be sure, coming from a man detained at Customs over a jumbo-size bottle of Viagra after returning from a jaunt to the Dominican Republic.

With Glide’s statement on Thursday, another right-wing narrative has been destroyed. Last week, CNN blew a hole in the false story spread by conservative media that Darren Wilson suffered a blowout orbital fracture at the hands of Michael Brown prior to shooting him dead. The story had been making the rounds in the conservative blogosphere for a couple of days before Fox News attempted to give it credibility by running a confirmed report on it. Eventually, CNN’s Don Lemon confirmed that Wilson did not suffer an eye bone fracture, ripping apart the poorly constructed lie set forth by agenda-driven right-wingers.

Now, the same has happened with the audio recording. Conservatives, who fully want to believe that the shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old black man at the hands of a white police officer was perfectly acceptable and called for, continue to put all of their eggs in non-existent baskets. What is mind-boggling is that the stories they toss out there are eventually found to be false. Obviously, we would all discover whether or not Wilson sustained a broken orbital. Same goes for this audio recording. Down the line, a full authentication would be made public.

The attempt to distract and create false narratives may work for 24-48 hour time periods, but in the end, it only serves to discredit the outlets doing it even more. The more one cries wolf, the less one trusts them as a reliable source of news and information.

36 Replies to “Another Right-Wing Lie Debunked As Michael Brown Audio Recording Is Not A Hoax”

  1. “We love him here. I hope nothing ever happens to him.”

    I bet you do rush. I just bet you hope nothing happens while you are telling your base something needs to happen to him

    Everything the right embraces is always false. Everything.

  2. Anyone with half a brain would take anything False News or Limbaugh said with the grain of salt it is worth anyway. The only one’s believing the wing nut lies are those who really, really, want them to be true.

  3. These right-wing propagandists are going to take a long time to get used to living in the age of information.

    The old strategy of lie, lie and lie some more until people believe you just doesn’t work when most people have cameras, recorders on phones and the internet.

    I hope it takes them a long time to adjust because as the author says, the more they cry wolf, the less credible they become.

  4. One note of sadness is that there has been no change in the media being held accountable for their indiscretions. The same Pundits. like Limbaugh, Hannity and O’ Reilly should have to give equal air time stating how wrong they were in sprouting their falsehoods.

  5. Now watch all the racist cockroaches disappear back into the dark, just like they do every time one of their lies is exposed. These right wingers love to spew out any conspiracy theory they can to try to deny the truth, then slip away after their wacky lies are shown to be wacky lies.

  6. There has been note enough apparent misinformation to go around, beginning with the assertion that the victim was a gentle good giant on his way to college. The reality turned out to be that he was a strong arm robber more likely to be on his way to prison.

  7. I see your sheets are ready to be picked up. First he paid for the cigars and yes he was going to college unlike your dumbass who dropped out in jr. high

  8. It turns out that deploying a militarized police response to protesters is expensive.

    The state has budgeted $3.455 million this year to pay expenses that any state agency incurred during an emergency declared by the governor, in addition to $4 million for emergency duties of the Missouri National Guard. […]
    St. Louis County so far has spent about $1 million in police overtime responding to Ferguson, Chief Operating Officer Garry Earls said. That amount includes about $100,000 a day for the first nine days after the shooting. […]

    “All this workforce out there had to be fed,” he said. “We used up all of our tear gas and pepper spray.”

  9. Just yesterday Laura Ingram and some guy were yucking it up big time after playing that clip. She said there is so much stuff they could protest about but what they were protesting about is wrong. Like these white right wingers know what’s best for them. It never fails with them every time there’s a high profile case the victim was a thug that had it coming and if any black leader weighs in they are race baiting and dividing. It’s like they are trying to start a race war and would love nothing more.

  10. Would it matter , if the right wings say that the cop had injuries ? not really .That won’t keep the FBI from investigating and finding the truth to that.
    No matter what lies the cops say ,the FBI will find the truth.

  11. Officer Wilson is Not Guilty! Save you time. The police is 90% white but the town is 65% black, so? The NBA is 80% black? NFL starters 70% Black, but blacks make up 13% of the USA, odd. Reduce blacks in the Black (BFL), and the NBA then I’ll agree that police force should fire some cops!

  12. He’s guilty as hell and the eyewitnesses prove it. Doesn’t mean he’ll be convicted but he’s damned sure GUILTY.

  13. Poor pathetic little guy who couldn’t make it in athletics……so sorry! Hey the NFL & NBA always needs new waterboys!

    Get a grip…you still have Lacrosse

  14. This is going to end up fake and come down hard on liberal media, I love how they say in this article that the social media site confirmed it was ferguson police firing in the clip , bawahahawahaaa ! Lol, really they where there ?

  15. It was confirmed as occurring at the same time as the execution of Mr Brown. Not as the Ferguson police

    Yet, you are attempting to debunk something when YOU were not there. Catch the hypocrisy rainbow?

  16. Yes,the RWNJs are all insanely idiotic and the more they listen to their masters of lies & deceit,the dumber they get.I am happy that the majority of our country is smarter than them.

  17. So… I read the link there… I guess im the only one here who noticed that they did NOT verify the video but verify it was at the right time. Or knows that a social media apps verification is as useful and believeable as Rush is.
    This makes me as nervous as the “debunking” of his medical injuries when we said “the hospital confirmed nothing was torn”.
    So what you confirmed is he was struck, he did suffer enough damage potentially to warrant a hospital trip, but it wasn’t severe as was speculated. Like saying: “No officer, I didn’t stab him that deep” when asked if you stabbed a man.

  18. To the dying end you people will not accept the truth. First of all that bovine excrement about the so called injuries I have one question even your idiotic brain can understand. Where are the pictures of these injuries? We have medical reports of weed in Mike Brown system. We have Josie reading from a facebook post on what happen. We have a edited video that doesn’t show that Mike Brown paid for the cigars but only the part where he was leaving the store. But what we don’t have is a real incident report, we don’t have a report of firing your weapon AND FOR YOUR RABBIT MINE TO PROCESS WE DONT HAVE NY PICTURES OF THIS INJURY

  19. Is it so wrong for people to believe that the police are there to protect and serve and that they really are good guys?
    It’s like saying anyone who has any hope is a moron or a fool. Yet here we all are hoping the same system that created the police will find justice?

  20. Yeah but no matter how we see this trial go neither side will change. If the cop is innocent there will be call after call for “mistrial” by the left and challenges to laws that may not have even applied. The right, if he’s found guilty, will equally disbelieve it. Let’s not forget though the verdict of Trey Von Martin was self defense, not Stand Your Ground but which did we end up seeing protests for? This is a classic example of the left proven wrong where they won’t accept it. Where as no one on the right, at least any main candidate, will admit the successes of Obamacare, unless off course they’re claiming the changes they made caused the success.

  21. WOW JUST WOW Mistrial:A mistrial occurs when 1) a jury is unable to reach a verdict and there must be a new trial with a new jury; 2) there is a serious procedural error or misconduct that would result in an unfair trial, and the judge adjourns the case without a decision on the merits and awards a new trial. The left cannot call for a mistrial. The stupid just burns with you people

  22. A fool and their money are soon parted.Was Darren Wilson donation page a scam?

    The Los Angeles Times reports today that two online donation pages intended to support Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson have unexpectedly shut down.

    One of those pages appears to be completely legitimate. But the other one? hmmmmmm …

    The possibly-scam page has raised $235,750.

  23. Releasing information to the public of that nature would A. Be a violation of the police officers rights, and B. Turn up more false witnesses.
    The fact he went in to get checked shows that there is documentation of it. This was my point. I find out ironic that the moment I don’t follow the crowd I’m accused of both being a republican but a moron. Im not a republican, and motion is more a matter of perception, as you see everyone who does not agree as a moron without looking or giving a second thought.
    Im merely remarking that everyone is jumping to way to many conclusions and we should all wait to see what the trial produces as the fact he was checked out, regardless of how much damage, does supply immediate evidence of a physical interaction. That’s pretty much undeniable unless we accuse the police of bruising himself. If, and mind you I say if, any crime was committed prior by Brown, we have a police report, and we have a reason for interaction. Police video from vehicle? We’l…

  24. Did he go get checked? Is there a report? Why did he walk around the body for a few hours and not show any signs of distress? Lets see the report. I can wait till his criminal trial if you want
    There was no reason for interaction, the piglet know nothing of the supposed theft.

    You go on and on about crap you know nothing about. Start sticking to facts. Like for one the store manager never called the cops

  25. But releasing lies about Mike Brown is in the public interest. Exactly how does that work again? If the executioner was so badly hurt why no ambulance was called? Why did the executioner let Mike Brown body lay out in the streets for 4 hours like he was gloating over his kill? And why again there are no pics of these suppose injuries?

  26. Actually they can call for one. They can’t receive one. For example: you can protest outside city hall, you still won’t accomplish anything.
    And are you seriously claiming no one ever started shouting mistrial over Zimmerman?
    Or that no one ever tried to use a trial to cause a rise in the populace in an attempt to change
    Hell even Al Sharpton is using this as race discrimination to cause a commotion. We should look at the trial not to judge but examine. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions but allow the legal system to run it’s course. the law?


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