Pence slammed for joke about carrying empty nursing home boxes ‘for the cameras’

A Biden staffer and Jimmy Kimmel slam the VP after misleading video goes viral

May 8, 2020

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)

Mike Pence keeps making news for all the wrong reasons. The vice president was roasted on Twitter after visiting a nursing home in Virginia on Thursday.

He was caught on an open mic asking if he could carry empty boxes into the nursing home “just for the cameras,” according to CNBC.

The VP was at the Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Alexandria, Va to pay the facility a visit for a media opportunity.

Mike Pence Mayo Clinic theGrio.com

Pence offered to help unload boxes from a van outside the facility. He was there along with Seema Verma of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He did appear to carry some boxes inside. But when he went to carry more from a van parked outside, Pence was told the boxes were empty. Pence then joked he could carry them ‘just for the cameras.’ But instead, he walked away.

Though he said it in jest, social media was quick to take offense given the impact the coronavirus has had on health care workers who are on the front lines.

Nursing homes have been especially hard hit, with one of the first outbreaks of the virus in the U.S. at a nursing home in Washington state. Since then, nursing homes all over the country have experienced multiple fatalities and their staffers have asked for help with PPE, which has been in short supply.

Mike Pence caught on hot mic delivering empty boxes of PPE for a PR stunt. pic.twitter.com/IduvGhiPwj

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 8, 2020

Even late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel got in the act, using Pence as fodder for his opening monologue that same night.

“Mike Pence pretending to carry empty boxes of PPEs into a hospital is the perfect metaphor for who he is and what he’s doing: A big box of nothing, delivering another box of nothing,” Kimmel said.

Once finding out the VP was kidding and after he was accused of editing the clip to the VP’s detriment, Kimmel ‘apologized.’

it would appear that @vp was joking about carrying empty boxes for a staged publicity stunt. The full video reveals that he was carrying full boxes for a staged publicity stunt. My apologies. I know how dearly this administration values truth. https://t.co/hI9cO4lxcX

— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 8, 2020

Biden’s press secretary Mike Hill, weighed in, slamming the VP for his tone-deaf joke.

No, Mike Pence, the health care heroes on the frontlines don’t need you to carry the empty boxes “just for the camera.” There are more than 75,000 Americans dead, so they don’t need your jokes — they need the personal protective equipment that is going to save lives. pic.twitter.com/nVD3IjtiNt

— Matt Hill (@thematthill) May 8, 2020

Here’s the full clip: