stoneman shooting

School Shooting Survivor Forced to Respond to Claims That He’s a ‘Crisis Actor’

Anderson Cooper, David Hogg and his father. Photo: Courtesy of CNN

In the wake of last week’s Stoneman Douglas school shooting, in which 17 people were killed, the young survivors of the attack have become some of the most outspoken advocates for stricter gun control. As a result, they have been branded “crisis actors” — people who are paid to simulate an attack in order to push an agenda, in this case, gun control — by conspiracy theorists. (This line of thinking also cropped up after the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 elementary-school children were killed.)

One such student is 17-year-old David Hogg, whose father’s former profession as an FBI agent has made him a particular target for these conspiracy theorists. The No. 1 trending video on YouTube right now is accusing Hogg of being a crisis actor and even Donald Trump Jr. conspicuously “liked” a tweet attacking the teenager.

So Hogg — who, again, just recently survived a mass shooting — went on CNN to refute the claims publicly.

“I’m not an actor in any sense, shape, way, or form. I am the son of a former FBI agent and that is true. But as such, it is also true that I go to Stoneman Douglas high school and I was a witness to this,” he told Anderson Cooper. “I’m not a crisis actor. I’m somebody who had to witness this and live through this and I continue to have to do that.”

Watch Hogg’s full statements, below:

Shooting Survivor Responds to Claims He’s a ‘Crisis Actor’