There's a saying that one is known by the company they keep, so in this case, it shouldn't come as any surprise that one of the worst governors in the United States has people on his staff that are loathsome human beings as well. When Piccolo was named DeSantis' spokesperson last July he was described as an "edgy tweeter", his whole purpose seemingly to stir sh*t up.
Source: Florida Politics
Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ communications director, Fred Piccolo, has done away with his Twitter account he says in an effort to reduce stress in his daily life. That decision came hours after he drew blowback for an early morning tweet Thursday criticizing a Reuters editor for trying to create a narrative with photos from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Piccolo, who maintained a self-described “incendiary” presence on the social media site, drew fire Thursday after writing a critical tweet to a Reuters Pictures editor for creating a thread sharing photos of struggle and loss at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m wondering since 99% (of) Covid patients survive shouldn’t you have 99 photos of survivors for every one fatality? Otherwise you’re just trying to create a narrative that is not reality,” Piccolo tweeted.
But the spokesman stands by the tweet, telling Florida Politics that the tweet was “not insensitive.” The media tends to focus on the number of fatalities, he said, noting that every death is tragic, but there are few stories about the 99 survivors for every life lost.
This thread is dedicated to those saying we aren't seeing images of the reality of COVID-19 in hospitals across the U.S.
This is not an exhaustive list but I wanted to highlight the stories @reuterspictures photographers bring to light.
Photo by Callaghan O'Hare in Houston pic.twitter.com/94yD7b2Jq8— corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) December 22, 2020
The grim reality for frontline workers and patients is captured by Reuters here in this photo gallery.
Apparently, that was too much for DeSantis spokesperson Fred Piccolo Jr, who tweeted that such pictures do not show reality, and that since 99% of COVID patients survive, those people should be shown too. Twitter's response was quick. Piccolo's sh*t-filled Twitter account was soon deactivated, but his wasn't his most idiotic or offensive tweet about the pandemic. via The Orlando Sentinel:
“I’ve made people far angrier with other things in the past, this is just an observation that I think was worthy of consternation,” Piccolo said of his last tweet. “But I said this was going to be my Christmas gift to myself to get off of the medium, so I said let’s do it.”
Piccolo, who had formerly served as the spokesman for the Florida House Speaker’s office, has gained notoriety for his often acerbic Twitter account that has pushed misinformation about the coronavirus.
Piccolo questioned the efficacy of mask-wearing and mask mandates at least 16 times, a Sun Sentinel report found, and has claimed that COVID-19 is less deadly than the flu at least three times.
WLRN reporter Danny Rivero shared a screenshot of the spokesman’s post.
And it appears that Fred Piccolo Jr. just deleted his account entirely. Here's a screenshot. https://t.co/tVdmTSh34p pic.twitter.com/FZJvQpA7iU
— Danny Rivero (@TooMuchMe) December 24, 2020
Spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis deletes his Twitter account after tweeting that photos of each dead #COVID19 victim should be balanced with 99 pictures of people who survived it. https://t.co/Nx3AlTJnnj pic.twitter.com/kJZFphg9Qt
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) December 26, 2020
