MediaMatters debunks the U2 'fundraiser' for Rick Santorum [View All]

[LynneSin]

There have been several posts about how U2 is suppose to be hosting a $1k/ticket fundraiser for Rick Santorum at their Oct 16th concert in Philadelphia. It seems crazy that Bono, a man who feverishly works towards alleviating third world debt & AIDS, would team up with super-uber fundie Rick Santorum. Well it turns out that there were a bunch of crazies out there starting with NewsMax who put a spin on the story to make it sound that Tricky Rick & Bono were hand-in-hand with the project and then CNN picked up on the story and went with it.

Turns out that there is a fundraiser at the U2 concert for Rick Santorum but U2 & Bono have nothing to do with it. Just happens to be some Santorum fans who got a hold of a block of U2 tickets and are reselling them as a fundraiser for Santorum. U2, Bono and Data (Bono's relief organization) have all posted statements that they have nothing to do with this fundraiser nor do they have control over how their tickets are being used.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200510120009

Where the source has no name: CNN failed to report origin of false claim of U2 fund-raiser for Santorum
On the October 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN correspondent Ali Velshi reported as fact an Internet rumor that the rock band U2 was "set to perform in Philadelphia on Sunday at a $1,000-a-seat fund-raiser for Sen. Rick Santorum's re-election campaign." Velshi's report -- which contained wording similar to that in a false October 10 article on the conservative website NewsMax -- cited a claim by the "organizer of the fund-raiser" that both Santorum and U2 lead singer Bono "have strong religious convictions and are passionate in their beliefs" as an explanation for Bono's "new and perhaps surprising cause." Additionally, in a teaser for the report, anchor Kyra Phillips appeared to parrot NewsMax when she asked, "Why is U2's Bono teaming up with a conservative Republican senator?" Though Velshi later acknowledged that he had been "hoaxed," his retraction did not reference NewsMax, the event's "organizer," or any other possible source for his false report.

In fact, as political consultant Joe Trippi noted on his weblog, an advocacy group that Bono co-founded, DATA (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa), issued a press release on October 11 at 1:54 pm ET -- more than two hours before Velshi's report -- in which DATA executive director Jamie Drummond denied that Bono was participating in a political fund-raiser:

"Throughout the U2 tour, politicians from both sides have been organizing fundraisers at the venues or around specific shows. Neither DATA or Bono are involved in these and they cannot be controlled. The U2 concerts are categorically not fundraisers for any politician -- they are rock concerts for U2 fans."

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