Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo likely thought she got an unusually transparent guest in Smithfield Foods' new CEO Dennis Organ on Wednesday morning. But what neither she nor anyone at Fox Business seemed to know was that Organ was actually animal activist Matt Johnson, disguising criticism of Smithfield under a layer of self-described "transparency" and a relentlessly positive tone that's the hallmark of C-suiters everywhere.
Johnson started out the interview with pretty convincing impersonation of a big-name CEO, thanking the U.S. government for prioritizing food workers for COVID-19 vaccinations. But then Johnson started sliding in some harsh criticisms of Smithfield that no self-preserving executive would dare mention. For example, while Johnson said the company had been providing employees with "extensive" PPE and paid leave, he then took a shot at Smithfield, saying "those steps have unfortunately been insufficient."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
The activist group Direct Action Now soon took credit for the appearance, which was all meant to highlight how Smithfield and other companies' meatpacking plants had turned into coronavirus hotspots amid the pandemic. At the end of the show, Bartiromo acknowledged that the show discovered it had been "punked," and that Johnson had no affiliation with Smithfield. Kathryn Krawczyk
Editor's note: This post has been updated to reflect that Fox Business recognized the mistake later in the show.
-
Anti-trans scandal roils major LGBTQ+ literary prize as authors withdraw en massein the spotlight Multiple nominees for the UK's premier queer writing award have removed themselves from contention to protest the inclusion of a self-proclaimed 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist' in their ranks
-
4 ways to cover unexpected home repairsThe Explainer Home is where the heart is — but it might cost you
-
Why is Trump attacking Intel's CEO?Today's Big Question Concerns about Lip-Bu Tan's Chinese connections
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
