In the past year, former WTSP anchor Rob Finnerty went from urging people to wear a mask for his local Tampa Bay station, to mocking masks and health professionals for far-right national outlet Newsmax.
Finnerty is now the host of “Wake Up America,” and for his most recent Monday episode he brought on David Litt, a one time speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, for a live interview to discuss billionaire Elon Musk’s recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
Besides admitting he hadn’t even watched the Musk episode of SNL, Finnerty’s most embarrassing moment came when Litt turned the conversation to Newsmax’s role in pushing baseless election fraud conspiracies.
“What happened on ‘SNL’ this weekend was that people made stuff up and then said it on television like it’s true,” said Litt. “And that actually happens pretty frequently in American TV. For example in 2020, Dominion Voting Systems sued Newsmax over its false claims about election fraud. Newsmax was lying to its own viewers and Newsmax had to settle that lawsuit. ... Are you still telling that lie? Or are you telling new lies?”
Newsmax anchor: What happened on SNL?@davidlitt: "People made stuff up, then said it on television like it's true, and that actually happens pretty frequently on American TV. For example, in 2020 Dominion voting system sued Newsmax over its false claims about election fraud..." pic.twitter.com/ealyHGdGlM
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) May 10, 2021
Finnerty then attempted to bring it back to Musk, which didn’t exactly work. “Well, I can see why you don’t wanna talk about Dominion Voting Systems,” Litt replied. He then asked Finnerty straight-up: “Did Dominion Voting Systems have any impact on the 2020 election?”
Well, obviously, this was a question Finnerty simply could not answer. But for the unfamiliar, Dominion did in fact file a defamation lawsuit against Newsmax last December over the outlet’s false claims it rigged the election against former president Donald Trump. Newsmax later had to issue an on-air retraction and apology, which resulted in Dominion dropping Newsmax from the lawsuit.
In related news, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will join Newsmax for an exclusive town hall interview with Sean Spicer tomorrow in The Villages.
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