PBS announced Tuesday that a man making incendiary comments in a Project Veritas sting video — identified by Veritas as Michael Beller — “no longer works” for the publicly-funded company and “did not speak on behalf of our organization.”
On Tuesday morning, Project Veritas published a video where a man — identified as “Michael Beller, Principal Counsel, PBS” — appeared to share inflammatory remarks to an undercover journalist, including fantasies about putting Republican voters’ children in “re-education camps;” calling most Americans “fucking dumb” in comparison to “educated” Washington, D.C., residents; and celebrating a spike in “red state” coronavirus cases.
PBS responded to Project Veritas on Twitter, distancing itself from the individual in the video. The company’s communications account tweeted: “This employee no longer works for PBS. As a mid-level staff attorney, he did not speak on behalf of our organization, nor did he make any editorial decisions.”
The statement continued: “There is no place for hateful rhetoric at PBS, and this individual’s views in no way reflect our values or opinions. We strongly condemn violence and will continue to do what we have done for 50 years – use our national platform and local presence to strengthen communities and bring people together.”
Project Veritas declared “Michael Beller has been fired,” but the PBS statement does not clarify how recently this individual was on staff.
James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, mocked the PR statement for labeling the man in the video as a “mid-level staff attorney.”
PBS, a left-wing news media outlet, benefits from 501(c)(3) charitable status with the IRS through its PBS Foundation, a national umbrella organization supporting its local affiliates. Its registration as a charity provides PBS with exemptions from federal income taxes while allowing it to issue charitable receipts for donations from its benefactors. It also receives direct federal government funding, with its local affiliates receiving various funds from state and local governments.
PBS markets itself as a non-partisan and politically objective operation.
Editor’s Note: The text of this article has been updated to note that Project Veritas has identified the man in the video as Michael Beller and connected him to PBS. Breitbart News has not independently verified his identity. The headline of this article has been updated; it stated, without independent confirmation, that this individual has been “fired,” which is not clear from the wording of PBS’s statement.
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