CNN chief international anchor, Christiane Amanpour, apologized Monday for saying that Lucy Dee and her two daughters, Rina and Maia, were killed in a "shootout" with terrorists.
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"And just a note," the anchor said 22 minutes and 50 seconds into her May 22 show "Amanpour." "On April 10th, I referred to the murders of a British-Israeli family, Lucy Dee and Maia and Rina Dee, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee. During that live interview, I misspoke and said that they were killed in a 'shootout' instead of a 'shooting.' I have written to Rabbi Dee to apologize and make sure that he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him."
SUCCESS: Following our campaign for a public apology, @CNN's @amanpour says live on air: "I have written to Rabbi Leo Dee to apologize and make sure that he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him."
See the full story here: https://t.co/ppmGQL5927 pic.twitter.com/PxWeyB0id0
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 22, 2023
The statement offered no apology to viewers, and it did not explain why it took 12 days to correct.
Honest Reporting called the correction a "success," noting that it publicly called for Amanpour to issue the correction on May 11. "Upon seeing our exposé, Lucy's widower, Rabbi Leo Dee, issued a statement exclusively to Honest Reporting, echoing our call for an immediate apology. That tweet has racked up a further 137,000 views, indicating significant public outrage at Amanpour and CNN," the group stated.
Bereaved father and widower Rabbi Leo Dee demands public apology from @CNN
"They said they [wife and daughters] were killed, and not brutally murdered by an evil Palestinian terrorist funded by Iran, and it's the typical 'CNNism' where they are trying to do a comparison between… pic.twitter.com/YexKCNPY54
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) May 22, 2023
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach told JNS that Amanpour was "forced to capitulate and retract" her and CNN's "nauseating lie" less than 24 hours after Dee announced – during the memorial lecture for Boteach's father Yoav – that he planned to sue CNN for $1.3 billion "for defaming and desecrating the memory of his martyred wife and two daughters."
"The lesson here is that the Jewish community must never again allow the defamation of its good name and character," Boteach said. "Let all our enemies know that this is just the first of many actions we will be taking to ensure that the Jewish people and the State of Israel will never again (be) defamed. Antisemites beware."
Prof. Alan Dershowitz to i24NEWS: I am taking on @CNN and @amanpour despite apology to Rabbi Leo Dee
'This is part of a pattern that CNN and Amanpour have engaged in for over a decade....let's wait to hear what Amanpour says under my cross examination '
Catch the full… pic.twitter.com/EEZgIAe5Ja
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) May 23, 2023
The apology came just hours after Dee said he might sue CNN over its coverage of the terrorist attack. Speaking with the international outlet i24NEWS he said, "They said they [wife and daughters] were killed, and not brutally murdered by an evil Palestinian terrorist funded by Iran, and it's the typical 'CNNism' where they are trying to do a comparison between the victim and the terrorist...Christiane wrote me a very brief email apologizing for any misunderstanding caused by her calling it a 'shootout'... When you make a statement on prime time TV and then apologize in an email to a single person, it has a fraction of the impact."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
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