CNN's Anderson Cooper rips Donald Trump Jr. for spreading 'idiotic' conspiracy theory about him

On his show Monday night, CNN's Anderson Cooper told viewers that while he typically ignores conspiracy theorists, he wasn't going to let an "idiotic" tweet making the rounds go without explanation.

On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a photo of Cooper in waist-deep floodwaters, with the caption: "It's a shame that CNN's ratings are down 41 percent. What's worse is there's a simple solution that they refuse to accept. Stop Lying to try to make @realDonaldTrump look bad." Other Twitter users circulated the photo, falsely claiming it showed Cooper on his knees to make it look like the water was deeper. This was dumb for a variety of reasons, including that the photo was from September 2008, when Cooper was covering Hurricane Ike in Texas.

Cooper said he's covered hurricanes for 14 years, and it "really does make me sad to think that anyone would believe I would try to fake something or overly dramatize some type of disaster." He then played several clips that proved he was in deep water, and explained that he was in the thick of things to show people how dangerous it was to go out in the water, and to also stay out of the way of emergency vehicles using the roads. "The idea that I am kneeling in water to make it look deep is frankly idiotic," he said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As if that wasn't enough evidence, Cooper noted that a member of his crew included in the photo, veteran CNN audio tech Doug Thomas, died a year ago this month. "We miss him every day," Cooper said. Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia