Claim: In a 1987 interview, special prosecutor Kenneth Starr decried "perverts who provide the media with pornographic material."
Status: False.
Origins: Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, the man who conducted investigations that led to reports and videotapes containing graphic descriptions of sexual activity between President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky flooding the media, violated the proclamation he allegedly made to
Public media should not contain explicit or implied descriptions of sex acts. Our society should be purged of the perverts who provide the media with pornographic material while pretending it has some redeeming social value under the public's 'right to know.'
As
you should expect, this quote is too good to be true. It's a clever counterpoint to the now notorious statements made about Nixon's impeachment in 1974 by a young University of Arkansas law professor named Bill Clinton, but it's also a complete fabrication. According to CBS, Kenneth Starr — then a judge with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia — did not appear on
We should still sit back and marvel at how far and fast something so obviously phony can spread these days.
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Last updated: 26 September 2007
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