This Ted Cruz Fly Video Has People Calling Him "Toad Cruz"
Published May 27 2021, 12:45 p.m. ET
We're naturally going to want to believe bad things about people we don't like. The guy who cut you off in traffic? Probably hates small animals. The woman who ate her entire meal at the restaurant and still tries to get it for free after complaining? Likes the Point Break remake better than the original.
A politician who made horrible claims about a rival while vying for a higher position in government and suddenly kisses their behind once elected, like Ted Cruz (and others)? Yeah, he must've eaten a fly on TV.
It's a clip that's got people calling Ted "Toad Cruz."
There are a few members of the GOP, including "Cocaine Mitch," who have what people refer to as a "punchable face," and Ted Cruz is one of them. The fact that he's been able to effectively roll with these punches and trade barbs with folks who dislike him hasn't really done much to help him curry favor with other individuals, but when you're a longtime member of government like Cruz, you learn to develop a thick skin.
The man's dealt with people calling him the Zodiac Killer and even came out on top of a Twitter exchange with Deadspin, so a clip of him appearing to swallow a fly on Fox News probably isn't going to bother him that much. Nor is the fact that people are now referring to him as "Toad Cruz." (You know, because toads eat flies.)
The video in question shows a bug walking on Cruz's face, and then the bug disappears before Cruz coughs and then goes to sip some water.
But is the Ted Cruz fly video real?
If you look closely at the clip, you can tell that the fly appears to be walking on what is a flat surface. And while it looks like Ted definitely swallows it, Newsweek actually looked further into the original clip that supposedly shows Cruz accidentally swallow a fly on live television.
It's from a June 27, 2019, video interview Cruz had with Sean Hannity where the senator is asked about criticisms geared at then-President Donald Trump.
Cruz is about to give his answer but it appears that he has something in his throat. He coughs, then drinks some water to clear it up, which occurs around the 26-second mark in the video below. Here is the original clip:
As you can see, there is no fly that enters Ted Cruz's mouth in the clip. He's coughing simply because he got a "froggy" throat for whatever reason.
But the altered fly clip is now circulating Twitter. Tons of people are falling for the "fake news" clip and using it as a chance to make a metaphor about flies being drawn to manure because politicians talk a lot of B.S. and so on and so forth.
It didn't take long for references to Mike Pence's actual fly incident, and the viral name of "Toad Cruz" to start circulating the web. Could it be an early campaign move against Cruz for the 2022 senate elections? Or someone who just saw the clip and thought it'd be funny to photoshop him swallowing a fly?
