MAGA influencer Nick Shirley has issued a retraction and taken down videos accusing a family-run Seattle grocery store, Lam’s Seafood Asian Market, of SNAP fraud, admitting he misrepresented a $120 purchase.
In videos published on Oct. 9 and Oct. 12, the 24-year-old Shirley went undercover to document what he described as a common form of EBT trafficking, in which people exchange food stamp benefits for cash.
The YouTuber and a partner approached a woman on the street, offering to sell her an EBT card loaded with $120 in SNAP benefits for $60.
Shirley had claimed a woman used an EBT card to buy a single can of Spam and sushi for $120, suggesting the store was facilitating benefit fraud.
But the store later clarified that the transaction was for a case of 24 cans of Spam, undermining his central accusation.
In his retraction, Shirley acknowledged that the woman had been attempting to purchase a case of Spam, explaining why the transaction totaled $120.
He also conceded that he had uncovered no evidence that Lam’s itself engaged in EBT fraud or colluded with the woman.
“I have not uncovered any evidence that Lambs itself engaged in EBT fraud or that Lambs colluded with the woman in the video,” he said, adding that it was never his intention to make incorrect claims about the business.
Shirley said he had removed the videos and defended the correction as part of his responsibilities as a journalist.
“As a journalist, I make sure and try my best to make sure that everything is 100 percent and we do our best, honestly, but we don’t always get it right,” he said. “And when we don’t, it’s very important that we make a correction.”
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