.
He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over. Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST."Williams read from the tweet after it was introduced by Mara Gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board, who said that "somebody tweeted recently that actually, with the money (Bloomberg) spent, he could’ve given every American a million dollars."
"It’s an incredible way of putting it," Williams said after displaying the tweet on screen.
If that sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is.
Williams quickly corrected the error on air, and the Twitter account for his TV show issued a correction and apology in a tweet posted hours after the show finished.
"Turns out Mara and I got the same grades at math," Williams said after a commercial break. “It’s disturbing.”
It was also wrong.
Get your calculators out, America.
That’s bad math.
We rate this statement Pants on Fire!
He could have given each American $1 million and still have money left over. Here’s the now-deleted tweet from writer Mekita Rivas that Gay brought up and Williams validated:
“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. It’s true.
That’s enough to buy a pack of gum or a Kit Kat bar at CVS, but it’s not breaking the bank.
He could give each American a dollar."
"The tweet is wrong," he said.
Gay also tweeted about the incident, saying she was "buying a calculator, brb."
As for the author of the original tweet, she switched her Twitter account settings to private but wrote in her bio, "I know, I’m bad at math."
Bloomberg did spend in the ballpark of $500 million on ads and other campaign-related finances, according to reports.
It’s disturbing. A quick use of a calculator shows that $500 million divided by 327 million people is actually about $1.53 per person.
Brian Williams, Mara Gay make absurd math flub about Mike Bloomberg’s wealth
They’re a couple of on-the-airheads!
NBC’s Brian Williams and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay reported that Mike Bloomberg spent $327 trillion on his doomed presidential bid.
The former New York City mayor, worth an estimated $65 billion, actually blew through about $550 million in three months before dropping out Wednesday, winning only American Samoa.
Williams and Gay cited a since-deleted tweet from freelance journalist Mekita Rivas, who wrote Bloomberg spent $1 million per U.S.
resident.
Rivas later edited her Twitter bio to read, “bad at math.”
But Williams, the serial exaggerator suspended by the network for six months in 2015, presented the claim as fact.
“Somebody tweeted recently that actually with the money he spent he could have given every American a million dollars,” Gay said Thursday evening on Williams’s show.
“When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear,” Williams concurred.
In her tweet, Rivas wrote: “Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads.
(See the clip below.)
“The 11th Hour” host gushed over a tweet claiming that Michael Bloomberg could have used the $500 million ad budget on his failed presidential bid to give every American $1 million.
“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” Williams declared.
“It’s true,” guest and New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay chimed in.
"I’m speaking of the tweet we both misinterpreted. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. The U.S. population is 327 million. We apologize for the error.”
The New York Times editorial board member fessed up to her error, tweeting Friday morning: “Buying a calculator, brb.”
MSNBC’s Brian Williams plus bad math equaled an embarrassing on-air goof Thursday.
The U.S. population is 327 million. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people. And the census estimates that the U.S. population is a little more than 327 million people.
But even at roughly $500 million, the billionaire didn’t spend nearly the amount of money he would've needed to give every American $1 million.