Sinclair Drops Segment Featuring Smears Against Dr. Anthony Fauci.
LEMON: Sinclair media dropping a segment featuring a false conspiracy theory, a false one, of Dr. Anthony Fauci, after a lot of uproar over it. But it's not the only false story making it on to big platforms. Here's CNN's Brian Stelter.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sinclair, one of America's biggest owners of TV stations, is now disavowing a debunked segment that featured a kooky conspiracy theory, smearing Dr. Anthony Fauci. During this segment on Eric Bolling show, a banner on screen said, did Dr. Fauci create COVID-19, attacking Fauci in service of supporting President Trump. That has been the right-wing media's playbook all spring and summer long.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The number I gave out --</s>STELTER (voice-over): But this interview stoked so many concerns and complaints that Sinclair showed it over the weekend and confirmed on Monday that it will never air. Sinclair went on to -- quote -- "reiterate our appreciation for Dr. Fauci." A small victory for truth at a time when conspiracy theory seemed to be winning and the truth is losing.</s>ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: They're, you know, oversampling Democrats --</s>STELTER (voice-over): Eric Trump on Fox with Jesse Watters, claiming that posters are part of a mask conspiracy to fool America. In this interview, Watters brought up QAnon, a virtual cult that touts Trump and casts Democratic politicians and other elites as evil child abusers.</s>JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Twitter has basically just crackdown, eliminated about 7,000 accounts --</s>STELTER (voice-over): Watters's most concerned, Twitter removing the cult's lies would hurt Trump's reelection.</s>WATTERS: Because, you know, Q can do some crazy stuff with the pizza stuff and the way</s>STELTER (voice-over): A shocking thing for a TV host to say since aspects of QAnon are downright delusional. It's connected to PizzaGate, which allowed a man to show up in a D.C. pizzeria with guns. The FBI was warned of the QAnon conspiracy being a domestic terrorism threat. But Watters said they've uncovered a lot of great stuff. Eric Trump then drew a false equivalence between Q and some Democrats he doesn't like.</s>E. TRUMP: Guess what? Adam Schiff does a lot of crazy things. Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell, they also do a lot of crazy stuff.</s>STELTER (voice-over): Watters eventually came out with a statement that said, in part, "My comments should not be mistaken for giving credence to this fringe platform."</s>STELTER (on camera): But the problem is that every time someone like Jesse Watters promotes QAnon, these crazy conspiracy theories become more mainstream. They become more validated.</s>STELTER (on camera): Here's the good news, however. This garbage can be called out. It can be exposed. Sinclair backs down after CNN and other organizations questioned why this segment might be airing. That is the good news here. Sunlight, Don, sunlight is still the best disinfectant.</s>LEMON: Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Walmart is banning a couple for wearing face coverings emblazoned with Nazi swastikas. The woman who confronted that couple joins me next.