- The Washington Times - Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling out CBS News for what he sees as a “bogus” headline.

Last week, the actor garnered headlines after posting a video of himself filling a large pothole near his home in Brentwood, California. The actor said he and his community had been dealing with the hole for weeks.

Soon after the tweet went out, CBS News reported that the hole was not a pothole, but a utility trench used by the city.

CBS’ headline read, “Schwarzenegger filled a utility trench, not a pothole, city of Los Angeles says after video goes viral.”

A spokesperson for the city confirmed to CBS and other outlets that the hole was a service trench used by the utility company SoCalGas. The company said work began and ended in January despite heavy rain.

Mr. Schwarzenegger claims the city left his patchwork in place.

“This headline/tweet is bogus,” he tweeted. “The story is correct — the utility work was finished in January. I filled in the hole 3 months later and the city left my fix in place.”

The utility company confirmed to Fox last week that while SoCalGas did leave Mr. Schwarzenegger’s work in place, it also strengthened it.

“We did leave the patch that Governor Schwarzenegger applied, however yesterday our crews went back to the site, and we used special equipment to go over the patch to make it all stronger,” SoCalGas communications manager Marissa Girolamo told Fox News Digital.

The former governor also tweeted that the headline is an example of why confidence in the media is so low.

“This story should be taught in a class for people who are confused about why institutional trust is in decline,” he tweeted.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.

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