Anderson Cooper refused to take a selfie with a Canadian journalist while covering the Ottawa shooting, and the man went on to fire off a series of unpleasant tweets at the CNN newsman, all of which have now been deleted.
, the New York Daily News said. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/anderson-cooper-rejects-journalist-selfie-request-ottawa-report-article-1.1984711
Vandon Gene, who lists “aspiring journalist” on his Twitter account, was a Cooper fan and apparently asked for a photo of the two of them together while on the scene.
Cooper refused, as seen in a video posted by Mediaite, saying, “No, I will not take a photo with you on a day when someone was killed. It seems wildly inappropriate.”
Gene uploaded the video to YouTube and then took it down, Mediaite said. He also took to Twitter to disparage Cooper, although those tweets have also been deleted.
In the tweets, a screen shot of which is posted on Mediaite, Gene said, “@andersoncooper I simply asked for a photo. YOU are exploiting this tragedy by flying to Ottawa from NYC. I just got out of a 12 hr lockdown.”
Other tweets from Gene reportedly said, “I can’t believe CNN employs you when you SWEAR to your fans. I covered this story properly. Check my tweets…”
Cooper responded to explain his reasoning and chide the reporter.
On Thursday, Gene apologized for his behavior:
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