MS NOW, previously known as MSNBC, has quietly acknowledged that it aired an artificially enhanced image of Alex Pretti, the man who had an altercation with federal agents that reportedly led to the agents firing defensive shots, which resulted in Pretti’s death in Minneapolis last week.
The admission from MS-Now can be found buried in a footnote on the network’s YouTube page, where an editor’s note now reads: “MS NOW swapped out the original thumbnail image for this video. The previous thumbnail used was an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti.”
Joe Rogan addressed the controversy on an episode of his podcast posted on Thursday, once again questioning the motive behind a news network editing someone’s image drastically before broadcasting it to millions of viewers.
This incident is particularly relatable for Rogan, as he himself was a victim of severe image editing by CNN during multiple news segments during the COVID era.
“CNN during the COVID times turned me green, and they made me ugly and look like I was dying, and they made him handsome. So people would be more sympathetic to him getting shot. Which is kind of wild,” Rogan said.
Megyn Kelly also delivered a pretty scathing assessment on her show earlier this week, methodically comparing the original photo of Pretti to the very altered version MS NOW aired.
“Apparently, they did not think that their hero was hot enough,” Kelly said. “And so they — or someone from whom they got the picture — clearly manipulated the photo that is out there of Alex Pretti in his nurse’s scrubs to make him look better.”
Kelly’s side-by-side analysis showed some extensive alterations: darkened and filled-in hair to reduce the appearance of balding, an artificial tan, whitened and straightened teeth, a shortened nose, and possibly even a reshaped jawline.
“A filter that makes the guy look tanner, alright maybe that can happen accidentally,” Kelly noted. “But the shortening of a nose? That does not happen accidentally.”
The quiet and quick tone of MS NOW’s correction – relegated to a short YouTube editor’s note rather than an on-air acknowledgment – has opened the eyes of many viewers, and may have some questioning what truly is “Fake News” in 2026.
For a network that has alledgely made combating misinformation central to its brand, being caught using an AI-altered image raises questions about the very concept of what truth they are promoting and who is expected to believe it.
