AP Hit With Brutal Community Note After Misleading Headline On Las Vegas Explosion

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On New Year's Day, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Tesla founder Elon Musk posted on X that the explosion was not because of a defect with the truck. 

Instead, the truck reportedly carried "firework mortars and camp fuel canisters" and the explosion appears to have been intentional. 

"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk posted. 

But the Associated Press framed the incident as though the truck exploded by itself. It also implied that the truck caught fire and then exploded, instead of exploding and then catching fire, which anyone who saw the footage could quickly deduce. 

The AP post on X was quickly "ratioed" and then hit with a brutal community note. 

It appears that the AP also edited the headline of the story on its website, according to Congressman Byron Donald. 

"Firework mortars, gas cannisters stuffed inside Tesla that exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel" is the current headline on the article. 

The AP's framing of the story fell in line with a lot of the reporting from the legacy media on the horrific terrorist attack perpetrated in New Orleans earlier on New Year's Day. 

The Associated Press published a misleading headline about the Las Vegas explosion outside a Trump hotel and X users hit the AP with a vicious community note.

The Associated Press published a misleading headline about the Las Vegas explosion outside a Trump hotel and X users hit the AP with a vicious community note.

(Getty Images)

Many media outlets used phrasing like "a truck drove into a crowd," rather than pointing out that a lunatic terrorist drove the truck into a crowd with the intent of killing as many innocent American citizens as possible.  

It's situations like this that show the inherent bias of the media. 

Thanks to X, though, people are able to hold these outlets accountable for their purposeful misleading of the public. 

EDITORS' NOTE: The AP reached out to Dan on Friday and made this statement:

                           "Our initial story on this was based directly on official statements and widely cited information from the Las Vegas Police Department.  As we gained more details, we continued to update our story, as we do in all breaking news situations.  This is part of the reporting process."

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.