Brian Williams blindly furthers false claim Mike Bloomberg could've given every American $1 million

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is rich, but he's not that rich.

The false inflation of Bloomberg's wealth started when a journalist incorrectly tweeted that he could've used his $500 million in 2020 ad spending and "given each American $1 million and still have money left over." Then, without anyone breaking out a calculator, the tweet ended up on MSNBC's 11th Hour with Brian Williams, with both the host and The New York Times' Mara Gay going along with it.

"Somebody tweeted recently ... with the money he spent he could've given every American a million dollars," Gay said of Bloomberg on the show. "When I saw this on social media tonight, it kind of all became clear," Williams said before reading the false tweet out loud. "Don't tell us if you're ahead of us on the math here," Williams continued. Someone should've. "It's true, it's disturbing," Gay continued. It is very much not the former.

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Let's get one thing clear: Bloomberg's spending on his failed presidential run could've been used to give every American about $1.50. He'd have to have $330 trillion to give every American the money that tweet promised.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.