The Miami Herald says it misidentified the man who shouted 'white power' in a video shared by Trump
- The man yelling "white power" in a video shared by Trump was initially incorrectly identified by the Miami Herald as Roger Stokes, a retired firefighter.
- The Herald has since issued a retraction, saying the man was a victim of mistaken identity and had to move house because of the backlash.
- Insider, which published a story on June 30 citing the Herald's reporting, has retracted its piece and apologizes for the error.
The Miami Herald said it had misidentified the man who shouted "white power" in a video shared by then-President Donald Trump last summer.
The president stirred up controversy on June 28 when he retweeted a video showing a supporter yelling "white power" during a pro-Trump golf-cart parade in The Villages, a retirement community northeast of Orlando, Florida. Trump wrote that the people in the video were "great people." He later deleted the tweet.
The Herald had initially identified the man seen yelling "white power" was Roger Stokes, a 71-year-old resident of the Villages. But the newspaper has since retracted its article, removed it from its website, and apologized for the mix-up.
"A retired Miami-Dade firefighter named on social media and in the Miami Herald as the man who yelled 'white power' during a Central Florida rally in support of President Donald Trump is the victim of mistaken identity and backlash that has forced him to move from his home, his attorneys say," the Herald wrote. "The Herald has taken down its original story and apologizes for the error."
Insider subsequently misidentified Stokes in a story citing the Herald's reporting, but retracted the article and apologizes for the error.
Numerous social-media posts had identified Stokes as the man in the video, including a well-known South Florida commentator, the Herald said. Then the Miami-Dade County Fire Department released a statement that did not directly name Stokes but distanced the organization from the man in the video.
"The statement made by a longtime retired employee does not reflect Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's core values of integrity and respect for the diverse and multi-cultural community we serve. This retired employee acted as a private citizen and his views and actions are not representative of who we are and what we stand for," the department said on Twitter.
But the commentator later retracted the tweet and the fire department scrubbed the statement from its Twitter feed.
Stokes' lawyers told the Herald that their client does live at the Villages and does own a golf cart, but was not the man from the video.
Trump deleted the video hours after posting it. According to a report from NBC News, Trump was golfing and aides couldn't get in contact with him to delete it earlier.
Then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump had watched the video but had not heard the "white power" before posting.
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