MSNBC’s Brian Williams plus bad math equaled an embarrassing on-air goof Thursday. (See the clip below.)
“The 11th Hour” host gushed over a tweet claiming that Michael Bloomberg could have used the $500 million ad budget on his failed presidential bid to give every American $1 million.
“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Williams declared.
“It’s true,” guest and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay chimed in. “It’s disturbing.”
It was also wrong.
Get your calculators out, America. Here’s the now-deleted tweet from writer Mekita Rivas that Gay brought up and Williams validated:
“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”
Some quick number-punching reveals that $500 million divided by 327 million equates to a rounded-up $1.53 per person, a bit off from $1 million.
Rivas owned up to the flub, writing, “I know, I’m bad at math,” on a Twitter bio.
And so did “The 11th Hour,” whose production staff somehow let the tweet air without double-checking:
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