A video went viral on social media showing Fiona Moriarty-McLaughlin stopping to help a construction worker fix a building destroyed by looters amid the protests for George Floyd on Monday in an apparent fake activism. The woman featured in the video, whose identity was confirmed by New York Times’ journalist Taylor Lorenz, turned out be Fiona Moriarty-McLaughlin. However as can seen in the video she was not actually assisting anyone to rebuild anything.
After posing with the construction worker, she hands him back his power tool and says, “Thank you so much,” before walking away. Referring to the young man standing on the sidewalk dutifully taking her photo, “Boyfriends of Instagram!” she says.
As Fiona and her boyfriend got back into a Black Mercedes-Benz to quickly leave, as they were parked in a red zone, she yells, “Good job, you guys! BLM!”
One person identified the woman in video as Fiona Moriarty-McLaughlin in her tweet.
Director Ava DuVernay tweeted out the video by saying, “You know what? I’m… I think I’m gonna put Twitter away for a few minutes before I throw this phone across the room.”
Pink tweeted, “What is wrong with these entitled a**holes?! Who the f*** are you and who are your parents you horrible person. How can anyone defend this???!!!”
After the video went viral, Fiona turned all of her social media handles private. However, being a journalist, all her previous articles and video interviews remained live. Her Twitter bio line, which remained visible, reads: “I’m just chasing the facts.”
The Washington Examiner, for which Fiona is a commentary intern, is a conservative news website owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group.