CNN Found The Creator Of The Trump WWE Tweet–And Then Issued A Veiled Threat Against Him

CNN is just having a rough month. They had a shoddy story about a Trump-Russia connection that had to be retracted and led to three members of their reporting staff being forced to resign. Then, James O’Keefe’s investigation into the network over their Russia investigation confirmed what many conservatives already knew: the control room knows the story is “mostly bulls**t,” but it’s great for ratings. CNN commentator Van Jones even said the Russia story was “a big nothing burger.”

#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017

Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted a video showing him beating up CNN. Of course, that wasn’t the case. Someone photo shopped the CNN logo on WWE founder Vince McMahon’s face. Trump guest starred on the wrestling show and beat up McMahon in a wonderful piece of theater. CNN and the rest of the news media decided to go berserk, decrying it as violence against the press. Last time I checked, no members of the media have been hurt since Trump tweeted the video before the Fourth of July holiday. Well, the network decided to track down the creator of the video, who was a Reddit user, and they apparently threatened to dox him as well. The user “HanA**HoleSolo” has since deleted his posts and apologized for his behavior [emphasis mine]:

Mon: "GIFs make people want to hurt us!"
Tues: "Apologize or we'll hurt you."#CNNBlackmail
— Razor (@hale_razor) July 5, 2017

This July 4, we're reminded the Founders created the 1st amendment so journalists can coerce apologies from people that make them look bad.
— Razor (@hale_razor) July 5, 2017

Liberals attacked after violent wrestling gif: 0
Liberals attacked after scary NRA ad: 0
Republicans shot by liberal in VA: 5
— Razor (@hale_razor) July 3, 2017

Now the user is apologizing, writing in a lengthy post on Reddit that he does not advocate violence against the press and expressing remorse there and in an interview with CNN for other posts he made that were racist and anti-Semitic.

The apology came after CNN's KFile identified the man behind "HanA**holeSolo." Using identifying information that "HanA**holeSolo" posted on Reddit, KFile was able to determine key biographical details, to find the man's name using a Facebook search and ultimately corroborate details he had made available on Reddit.

On Monday, KFile attempted to contact the man by email and phone but he did not respond. On Tuesday, "HanA**holeSolo" posted his apology on the subreddit /The_Donald and deleted all of his other posts.

[…]

After posting his apology, "HanA**holeSolo" called CNN's KFile and confirmed his identity. In the interview, "HanA**holeSolo" sounded nervous about his identity being revealed and asked to not be named out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.

CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.

CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

That sounds like a threat, doesn’t it? Granted, this isn’t someone to defend outright. He admitted to racist and anti-Semitic posts, but CNN brushed that story away with this doxing threat. It comes off as another episode of the media behaving badly. Tripping up and showing that they now resort to going after private citizens over their anti-Trump bias. Honestly, I couldn’t care less who created the video, but, alas, here we are. Needless to say, Twitter was active, with even members of the left-leaning Vox Media making their concerns known over this unethical behavior by CNN. Brianna Wu, a game developer and Massachusetts congressional candidate who said the Manchester bombing was due to sexism and not terrorism, was also unnerved by CNN’s veiled doxing threat.

If you think the Reddit guy's name is newsworthy, publish it. If it's not, don't.

Holding future behavior over his head is #CNNBlackmail. pic.twitter.com/jH3EIQ2AyO
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 5, 2017

I have no sympathy for the guy who posted the CNN video, but #CNNBlackmail is giving Trump exactly what he wants. Inexplicably stupid. pic.twitter.com/rnw0LETq7R
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 5, 2017

CNN: Trump's bullying and threatening statements must stop.

Also CNN: We may leak the personal info of anyone who speaks poorly of CNN. pic.twitter.com/kuBeYBk7Yo
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 5, 2017

There is no defending this. CNN just declared anyone who posts things they don't like risks their personal info being leaked to the public. pic.twitter.com/SCdhYRXc30
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 5, 2017

And yes, it's possible to be critical of Trump and also realize that CNN screwed the pooch tonight. Yet another story bad for all sides.
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 5, 2017

Count me among those that find's CNNs veiled doxing threat to Han Assh*leSolo very, very ethically shaky. pic.twitter.com/2KwfJV6Ap9
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) July 5, 2017

I can't emphasize how bad this is on CNN's part. This is basically "don't post stuff we don't like or we'll dox you." Extremely unethical. pic.twitter.com/5bJZIZasH0
— German Lopez (@germanrlopez) July 5, 2017

... as long as he keeps his mouth shut. https://t.co/NaTdACSHW1
— Patterico (@Patterico) July 5, 2017

UPDATE:

FYI "HanAssholeSolo" just called me."I am in total agreement with your statement. I was not threatened in anyway." https://t.co/7se1B8Z29D
— andrew kaczynski ?? (@KFILE) July 5, 2017

"He yelled up from the dungeon to say he agrees and would like his ration of water now, if it pleases the crown." https://t.co/8TGJ9eJ9xl
— Amelia (@AmeliaHammy) July 5, 2017