FALSE: CNN’s Anderson Cooper called Mar and Korina a ‘corrupt couple’

Claim: A 2016 meme claiming CNN journalist Anderson Cooper supposedly called Mar Roxas and Korina Sanchez a “corrupt couple” is being circulated again on Facebook.

“When I heard that this corrupt couple are running for office, May God help the Philippines,” the statement against the two read.

A Nelda Medrano reshared the meme in a recent viral post, with a caption calling the couple an executioner of wealth and the Filipino people.

“Corrupt couple news around the world! Ang mag-asawang berdugo sa kayamanan at berdugo sa mga mamayang Pilipino! Corengkeng Berdugo ng mga kasambahay at gold digger ng kanyang kapanahunan Mar bobo pataygutom sa kapangyarihan at gold digger sa kaban ng bayan na pinagpaguran ng mamamayang Pilipino at ng dolyares ng Yolanda fund.”

(Corrupt couple news around the world! The married couple that’s shameless in wealth and executioner of the Filipino people! Corengkeng Executioner of household help and gold digger of his time, Mar stupid hungry with power and gold digger of the country’s wealth created by the Filipino people’s hard work and dollars from the Yolanda fund.)

Posted on February 22, the post has been circulating with around 1,700 reactions, 700 comments, and 18,000 shares as of this writing.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Anderson Cooper himself denied on Twitter calling the couple “corrupt.” Various news organizations also already did a fact check on the malicious meme in 2016. 

Twitter users verified with the journalist his supposed statement on May 3, 2016. Cooper responded, clarifying that the statement did not come from him. “I did not say this. It’s fake.” On another tweet, he maintained he “never said” the quote. 

Anderson Cooper and Korina Sanchez had a bit of a run-in when Cooper visited the Philippines in 2013 to cover the devastation left by Typhoon Yolanda. Cooper’s critical observations about the shortcomings of local relief efforts did not sit well with Sanchez, who criticized Cooper’s observations as totally wrong in her DZMM radio program at the time. 

Cooper got wind of Sanchez’s comments and countered: “Ms Sanchez is welcome to go there and I would urge her to go there. I don’t know if she has, but her husband’s the interior minister, I’m sure he can arrange a flight.” – Addie Pobre/Rappler.com

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