GOP Rep Steve Scalise manipulated activist’s computerized voice in Joe Biden interview
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Republican Rep Steve Scalise is facing fierce backlash after he tweeted a video that manipulated an activist’s computer-assisted voice in an interview with Joe Biden to make it sound like the Democratic presidential nominee agreed to defund the police.
Twitter slapped the video with a ‘manipulated media’ tag on Sunday after activist Ady Barkan accused Scalise, the House minority whip from Louisiana, of doctoring his words.
In the original interview recorded in early July, Barkan, who uses a computerized artificial voice due to his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), asks Biden if he agrees ‘that we can redirect some of the funding’ to public safety and mental health services.
Biden replies: ‘Yes, absolutely.’
The clip tweeted by Scalise on Sunday inserted the words ‘for police’ into Barkan’s question using the same computerized voice.
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Republican Rep Steve Scalise (left) is facing fierce backlash after he tweeted a video that manipulated activist Ady Barkan’s voice in an interview with Joe Biden to make it sound like the Democratic presidential nominee agreed to defund the police. Barkan (right) uses a computerized artificial voice due to his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
In the original interview recorded in early July, Barkan asks Biden if he agrees ‘that we can redirect some of the funding’ for police departments to public safety and mental health services. Biden replies: ‘Yes, absolutely’
The screengrabs above show Barkan’s question in the original interview (left) compared with the version that was doctored in the video shared by Scalise (right)
‘No police. Mob rule. Total chaos. That’s the result of the Democrat agenda. Ask yourself: Is this what you want in your town next?’ Scalise wrote alongside the video.
Barkan responded to the post soon after and called for Scalise to take the video down.
‘These are not my words. I have lost my ability to speak, but not my agency or my thoughts,’ he tweeted.
‘You and your team have doctored my words for your own political gain. Please remove this video immediately. You owe the entire disability community an apology.’
Scalise ultimately took down the video but his office insisted that the video accurately portrayed Biden’s stance on police reform.
A spokesperson for the congressman, Lauren Fine, told The Washington Post: ‘Obviously, for a one-minute Twitter video featuring several short clips, we condensed to the essence of what [Barkan] was asking, as is common practice for clips run on TV and social media, no matter the speaker.
‘We paired the police portion with Barkan’s final question for clarity because we couldn’t include an entire three-minute clip in a one minute montage.
‘We believe Biden’s position and answer is clear regardless: When asked twice, he says “yes” he is open to redirecting funding away from the police, and that is clear in our video.’
Twitter slapped a ‘manipulated media’ tag on Scalise’s since-deleted tweet with the doctored video, in which the second-highest ranking House Republican slammed ‘the Democrat agenda’
Barkan responded to Scalise’s post and called for him to take the doctored video down
Scalise offered a similar message on Twitter Sunday night as he shared the original clip and wrote: ‘Twice in one interview Biden says “yes” & “yes absolutely” to questions about “redirecting” police funding.
‘Dems & their partners in the media want to blame “editing” to pretend this isn’t exactly what he believes.’
Biden has repeatedly rejected calls to defund police departments, which reached a fever pitch this summer amid widespread protests against police brutality and racism.
The former vice president joined other top Democrats in condemning the manipulated Barkan clip on Sunday.
‘This video is doctored – and a flagrant attempt to spread misinformation at the expense of a man who uses assistive technology. It should be removed. Now,’ Biden tweeted.
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign, Andrew Bates, called the video a ‘deep fake’.
‘To doctor the words of an extraordinarily courageous and selfless American with a disability who speaks with the assistance of eye gaze technology, and who shows more strength, resolve, and care for others in every millisecond than Donald Trump has in his entire life is both morally abhorrent and a sign of utter panic,’ Bates said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also chimed in on Twitter, writing: ‘.@SteveScalise tried to steal @AdyBarkan’s health care with more than 60 votes to repeal or undermine Americans’ health care.
‘Now, he’s trying to steal Ady’s words by lying. Congressman Scalise must take his doctored video down and apologize immediately.’
Liz Jaff, who co-founded the Be a Hero PAC with Barkan, said: ‘@AdyBarkan uses assistive technology to speak and navigate the world. I’ve seen how hard it is. I’ve seen him lose his ability to speak.
‘What he says matters. His words are his own. To change his words like this is horrific. Take it down. Apologize.’
Biden called the manipulated video ‘a flagrant attempt to spread misinformation at the expense of a man who uses assistive technology’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Scalise of ‘trying to steal Ady’s words by lying’
Liz Jaff, who co-founded the Be a Hero PAC with Barkan, said: ‘What he says matters. His words are his own. To change his words like this is horrific’
Barkan endorsed Biden in July and interviewed him as part of a video series for Now This.
In the video that sparked the current controversy, 36-year-old Barkan, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2016 after the birth of his son, begins by sharing his heartbreak at missing out on important moments in his children’s lives.
He then shifts to talk about black Americans who have been killed at the hands of police in recent months.
‘George Floyd had five children, Breonna Taylor was only 26 and had decades of hopes and dreams ahead of her, but America’s commitment to white supremacy stole away those relationships and those futures,’ Barkan says.
‘The leaders of the Movement for Black Lives believe that we have been trying to reform police departments for many decades and it is not working. Instead they believe that the solution is to reduce the number of interactions that civilians have with the police.
Barkan, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2016 after the birth of his son, endorsed Biden in July
‘We can reduce the responsibilities assigned to police and redirect some of the funding into social services, mental health counseling, and affordable housing.’
Barkan refers to the June police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta as an example where a ‘wellness officer’ should have been sent instead of cops before asking Biden: ‘Are you open to that kind of reform?’
‘I’ve proposed that kind of reform,’ Biden replies. ‘And by the way, the idea, though — that’s not the same as getting rid of or defunding all the police.’
The nominee then lists his own police reform ideas before Barkan interjects: ‘But do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?’
‘Yes, absolutely,’ Biden replies before continuing to explain his stance.
After Republicans began using that video in advertisements accusing Biden of wanting to ‘defund’ the police, Barkan came out to insist that the former VP didn’t say that.
‘Though Ady would have loved Joe Biden to announce in this interview that he is in favor of defunding the police, the Vice President never said it,’ Be A Hero co-founder Liz Jaff said in a statement to CNN last month.
Barkan and other critics have asserted that the GOP exploited his disability in manipulating the video because his computerized voice was easier to replicate.
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