The ex-NFL player who was hired by the Huffington Post to cover national security apparently no longer believes 9/11 was an inside job.
Donte Stallworth, a former journeyman wide receiver, insisted in a series of tweets posted on Thursday that he no longer subscribes to the trutherism he conveyed on Twitter back in 2009.
In another tweet sent later in 2009 — the same year he pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter — Stallworth gave a plug to Loose Change, a film series alleging that the hijacked planes on 9/11 were actually replaced by drones.
Those tweets have come under a harsh spotlight after HuffPost announced Wednesday that Stallworth will join the site as a fellow covering national security.
On Thursday, Stallworth sought to clear the air, saying he no longer feels “the way I did in that tweet 5 years ago” and crediting the author James Bamford for his apparent change in beliefs.
Just to be clear, I no longer feel the way I did in that tweet 5 years ago.
— Donte’ Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) September 4, 2014
After a lot of reading and researching on it, my views changed… and that’s ok.
— Donte’ Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) September 4, 2014
Credit goes to James Bamford, whose great book disabused me of that stuff and showed what a disastrous intelligence failure 9/11 was.
— Donte’ Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) September 4, 2014
Before Stallworth clarified his beliefs on Twitter, HuffPost’s Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim defended the hire.
“That doesn’t represent how he thinks today,” Grim told the media industry website Poynter. “You know, that was five years ago, and people say dumb things, but that shouldn’t define him.”
But 2009 was not the only time Stallworth dabbled in 9/11 conspiracy theories on Twitter.
Just last year, he made a reference to the collapse of World Trade Center 7, which truthers have claimed was brought down by a controlled demolition.
TPM reach out to Grim multiple times on Thursday, asking if HuffPost was aware of Stallworth’s beliefs prior to making the hire. Grim has not responded.
Anyone is entitled to his/her views. The problems as I see it is that they hired him as an expert on NATIONAL SECURITY.
He did say he read a book on 9/11, so that makes him more qualified than Sarah Palin was for VP.
Is he still an anti-vaxxer? An anti-climate changer?
Stallworth seems to be antitruthing on quite a few topics. And he’s supposed an expert???
I think it’s great if someone can change their mind when presented with facts that contradict their original belief.
However, it is left to be seen if he is just saying he changed his mind to deflect any heat he has been getting. i.e it’s possible that he could change his mind about changing his mind.
Does HuffPo have any credibility left?
First, they convert the comment system so that you can only comment by logging in through Facebook – while, at the same time, running multiple articles saying why you should cancel your Facebook account.
They hired Dr. Phil. Nuff said on that one.
They wrote an op-ed excoriating the hackers and the people who viewed the nude celebrity photos for misogyny while at the same time they have a page on their site specifically devoted to “Sideboob.” (There are no male images on that page nor is the a “crotchwatch” page on HuffPo.)
Their aggregate sources include such disreputable sites like Drudge Report and Mediaite.
And now, this. This doesn’t surprise me. It’s just in keeping with how trashy HuffPo has become. It’s just continuing the downward slide. Garbage in. Garbage out.