The Daily Caller reported over the weekend that a police spokesman’s account of the Atlanta massage parlor shooting was picked up by the Chinese Communist Party media Sunday after it was taken out of context and widely circulated.
The official Communist Party news agency Xinhua repeated the distorted account, suggesting that Cherokee County police spokesman Jay Baker was making excuses for the killer, Robert Aaron Long. The misleading account of Robert’s alleged killing of eight people in Atlanta suggests that Baker was telling reporters that, in his opinion, it was a “very bad day” for Robert.
On Sunday, Xinhua tweeted, “Eight lives were lost, six of them Asian. And the killer just ‘had a bad day’!
8 lives taken,6 of them Asian. and the killer was just “having a bad day”! #StopAAPIHate #FightRacismpic.twitter.com/rL0DQ8AIK4
- China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 21,2021
What happened was that Vox.com reporter Rubo tweeted a paragraph from Baker’s speech on March 17 and wrote that a law enforcement official explained Robert’s decision to kill eight people in a bizarre way, ‘Yesterday was a very bad day for Robert and that’s what he did. The misleading tweet later went viral in the main media.
CNN, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and other publications spread the misleading statement.
And in fact, Baker was explaining what Robert told investigators. Robert did claim that it was not racially motivated. The video with fuller background information shows Baker stating, “Robert clearly had a problem with what he thought was a sexual addiction problem and thought that these locations [massage parlors] were something that allowed him to go to these places. It was a temptation for him and he wanted to eliminate that temptation. Like I said, it’s still early days, but those are the comments that Robert made.”
A few minutes later a reporter asked Baker if he felt that Robert “understood the gravity of his actions. Baker explained, “I talked to the investigators this morning and they got the impression that Robert understood the seriousness of what was going on, that he was very tired of sex addiction, that he was kind of at the end of his rope, that yesterday was a very bad day for him and he did this.”
“Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did”– a law enforcement official explains Robert Aaron Long’s decision to kill 8 people in a strange mannerpic.twitter.com/u0zFcqjbNK
- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17,2021
Robby Soave, senior editor of the media outlet Reason, tweeted on March 19, “Wow. If you watch the full video, it’s clear that the police spokesman is summarizing the suspect’s explanation of his actions to investigators. the Vox reporter said this in a way that makes it sound like the cop is making excuses for the killer. This is stunningly dishonest.” Sow attached the original video of Beck to the tweet.
Wow. If you watch the full video, it’s clear the police spokesperson is summarizing the suspect’s explanation of his own actions Vox journalist Aaron Rupar framed this to make it sound like the cop was making excuses for him. dishonesty. https://t.co/fxHaEWoMnp
- Robby Soave (@robbysoave) March 19,2021
Robert is accused of a mass shooting at an Atlanta massage parlor that left eight people dead. Police previously noted that the investigation was still ongoing, but the suspect claimed the attack was not racially motivated.
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