Hubris, Thy Name is "Merrlin Mosby"
Eugene Obah, host of Fit To Speak and Fit To Speak: From The Archives, reacts to the preliminary result of the State's Attorney race in Baltimore City
If the early results of yesterday’s Maryland Primary Election as of the time of this writing are any indication, it seems that Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby may very well be on her way out.
Besides her very well publicized legal issues that are far too numerous to list—in fact, I came across this thread on Twitter that I think best encapsulates much of Mosby’s troubles—there was one thing that stood out to me that, should she officially lose the State’s Attorney race, will be remembered as the final nail in the proverbial coffin.
Mosby’s campaign released a parody video of the FOX affiliate in Baltimore, featuring De’Von Brown, who has worked with Mosby, playing the role—such as it was—of reporter LaKeith Danielson (obviously a send-up of Keith Daniels, who, like many at FOX45, have reported on Mosby’s woes).
Brown, whose acting is equally as atrocious as the editing of the video (it would not even pass muster in even a high school television class), mispronounces Mosby’s first name while “reporting” on Mosby’s “involvement” in the Baltimore Colts and its middle of the night move to Indianapolis. But the worst part of the video was that Brown got somebody in the back half of the video—the guy wearing the red A-shirt—who clearly couldn’t be bothered to participate in this “campaign video”.
All that aside, I did grab the popcorn and I found the video rather amusing—I wouldn’t have gone as far as FOX45 did to say that it was offensive—but it was amusing for all the wrong reasons. Mosby did respond to FOX45 stating:
“The parody was intended to bring a little levity to the absolute seriousness of campaign season. Nothing more than that. However, we all know that there are biases in media coverage in Baltimore. Anyone upset by this video is probably complicit in, or complacent by that bias. This will be our only comment.”
FOX45 can be at times a bit strident in some of their coverage relative to market leaders WBAL and WJZ, and the fact that it’s owned by right-wing (and Hunt Valley, MD-based) Sinclair, which has a very top-down way of delivering their news product, should, at least on paper, call into question FOX45’s credibility. But the journalism that’s done there is top-notch; in fact, if anything, the coverage on Mosby, Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, and other elected officials should be the norm, not the exception. And, unlike the Mosby campaign’s parody, FOX45’s videos are very well edited.
If (when) she officially loses her campaign, Mosby, should she care to reflect on why her campaign failed, would be well served to know that pulling stunts from the Donald Trump playbook is not exactly a good look.
Marilyn Mosby seems to believe that she is above criticism. Here at CSE Media, we’re nobody’s friend. Subscribe now to our newsletter and consider joining the paid tiers to directly support our independent operation and independent content creators. Also subscribe to our YouTube channel for next Friday’s (July 29) launch of Fit To Speak: From The Archives in which host Eugene Obah revisits the topics of 2020 that remain relevant today.