OutKick Issues ‘Editor’s Note’ After Democratic Candidate For Ohio Governor Repudiates Source

AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File

An OutKick article about Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton received a topline correction Friday after Acton’s camp disputed the reporting by OutKick’s Ian Miller.

Dr. Acton served as director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Like her federal counterpart Dr. Anthony Fauci, Acton was demonized for requiring masks and lockdowns in the early days before much was known about how the virus was spread.

Miller’s “exclusive” article is titled, “Ohio gubernatorial candidate blasts NFL fans over COVID rules in resurfaced posts,” with a subheading accusing “the former Ohio health official” of spending her time “hassling Cleveland Browns fans.”

Miller based his reporting on OutKick “exclusively” obtaining “a series of social media posts that appear to be made by Dr. Acton’s Twitter account in May 2020, engaging primarily with fans of the Cleveland Browns. These posts, which have since been deleted, highlight Acton’s comical level of commitment to pointless COVID restrictions,” he wrote.

Miller continued that the tweets demonstrate how Acton “perfectly exemplifies the disastrous failure of our politicians and ‘experts’ in the COVID era.”

“In one example, [Acton] responded to a Browns fan posting a Kermit meme about their hopes for the team to make the playoffs by saying, ‘Please social distance,'” Miller wrote. “In another, a Browns fan posted about Baker Mayfield as the team’s quarterback, only for Acton to respond with ‘Please follow CDC guidelines.’ That fan then responded with a photo, to which she added, ‘We should be discussing ways to prevent covid.'”

“Incredible stuff, considering there is no way to ‘prevent COVID,'” Miller wrote.

Incredible, indeed, because according to Acton’s camp, those tweets were made from a parody account having nothing to do with the real Dr. Amy Acton.

After being called out, OutKick added the following “Editor’s Note” to their story.

“After publication of this article, a representative from Dr. Amy Acton’s campaign office contacted OutKick claiming that the Twitter account was a parody account that was not affiliated with Dr. Acton.”

Miller concluded his story by criticizing Acton for putting “political ideology ahead of facts, science, data and evidence.” He noted that “OutKick reached out to Acton to ask why she made these posts, to explain her ‘thinking’ and rationale,” but “[a]s of time of publishing, we had not received a response.”

This article has been updated to add a correction that Miller did reach out for comment but had not initially received a response.

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