Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday thought she was talking to Smithfield CEO Dennis Organ, while in reality she was being punked by animal activist Matt Johnson of Direct Action Everywhere.
In a clip of the interview posted by the activist group on Youtube, Bartiromo chats with the fake Smithfield CEO for about 6 minutes. The interview starts off mildly enough with Johnson talking about steps Smithfield has taken to control COVID-19 spread. After saying he wants to offer “transparency and, at times, brutal honesty,” Johnson goes on to try to blame animal agriculture for the appearance of new infectious diseases.
The stunt was called out by National Pork Producers Council President Howard “AV” Roth.
“Taking advantage of this black swan event to drive an anti-meat, anti-livestock agriculture agenda is reprehensible,” Roth said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “These radical extremist groups who typically work shrouded in secrecy and false identities – frequently while breaking the law – are only able to propagate their false narrative by hoodwinking journalists and posing as credible sources. Meanwhile, despite enormous challenges this year, hundreds of thousands of committed farmers and others employed in the pork production industry remain dedicated to keeping Americans and consumers around the world supplied with affordable, nutritious protein.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused record numbers of Americans to be food insecure. U.S. pork producers are proud to help feed those in need and these extremist groups should be ashamed of their stunts. Apparently, there is no low for their actions.”
Bartiromo closed the segment without acknowledging she was not, in fact, talking with the Smithfield CEO. At the end of the show she acknowledged, “It appears that we have been punked.”
