Rachel Maddow Attempts Sneaky, Watered Down Correction After Spreading False Story About Ivermectin Overdoses Backing Up Oklahoma Hospitals

After being called out by journalist Drew Holden, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow attempted a sneaky, watered down correction after spreading a false story about Ivermectin overdoses backing up Oklahoma hospitals.

Last week, Maddow tweeted out the original story from Oklahoma City’s KFOR, who interviewed a doctor that made the overblown claim.

Then on Tuesday, Maddow subsequently tweeted, “Two OK hospitals have chimed in on this now — one saying they’ve had ivermectin patients in their ER ‘adding to the congestion’ caused by COVID, another saying they haven’t.”

Maddow shared a link to an article from KOKH, another Oklahoma City news station, titled “Two Oklahoma hospitals differ on doctor’s claims over Ivermectin overdoses.”

Neither hospital said that there was a backing up of their services, as the doctor had alleged initially.

Maddow also shared a link to the FDA website and said, “The latest FDA warning on misusing ivermectin for COVID.”

Two OK hospitals have chimed in on this now — one saying they’ve had ivermectin patients in their ER “adding to the congestion” caused by COVID, another saying they haven’t:https://t.co/zY4iel9CDY

The latest FDA warning on misusing ivermectin for COVID:https://t.co/kzJOSQugAl

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) September 7, 2021

Holden said of the initial tweet by Maddow, “But the real champion of this tall tale was @MSNBC. @maddow had a tweet about it that went viral. She’s got an audience of millions of people and couldn’t be bothered to even look into a story that pretty obviously doesn’t pass the sniff test.”

But the real champion of this tall tale was @MSNBC. @maddow had a tweet about it that went viral.

She’s got an audience of millions of people and couldn’t be bothered to even look into a story that pretty obviously doesn’t pass the sniff test. pic.twitter.com/t6sFrXDzrt

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 5, 2021

On Friday, Dr. McElyea told KWTV, yet another local Oklahoma News station, “That original story was just a little misquoted.”

Dr. McElyea also claimed, “As the story ran, it sounded like all of Oklahoma hospitals were filled with people who have overdosed on ivermectin and that’s not the case. The cases we are seeing, people who are overdosing on ivermectin, they are taking full strength cattle doses and coming in and that is something that could be avoided.” 

It has become tough to figure out what is true and what isn’t at this point, but the situation is certainly another blow to the credibility of the mainstream news media.