A Trump supporter in Fort Myers, Florida, offered his apology to Jim Acosta on Wednesday, saying he was sorry for flipping off the CNN anchor and wanted to tell him personally.
A triumphant Acosta filmed the moment and swiftly uploaded it to Twitter.
“Had a hell of a night in Fort Myers,” he said. “This man apologized for giving me the finger at a rally earlier this year in Tampa. Really. We had a moment.”
“I just wanted to apologize for flipping you off in Tampa,” the bearded Trump superfan named Merlin told Acosta. “I got carried away. I was asking for facts and not opinions,” he said, citing a frequent critique of the CNN reporter.
Merlin was joined by his wife Eileen, who proudly held a “Woman for Trump” sign in Acosta’s video.
“I accept your apology and I hope I get to see you again,” said Acosta as Merlin and Eileen walked away.
As Trump routinely denigrates CNN as “fake news,” Acosta has increasingly become a foil for the president’s supporters at campaign rallies.
In cities across America, Acosta is routinely booed and mocked by Trump die-hards, a condition he has lamented many times on air and in public forums.
“If you want to ask me what makes me the most depressed about my job, it’s covering the rallies,” Acosta said during a CNN panel last week. “At rally after rally after rally, having the president of the United States whip people up into a frenzy and attack the press is the most depressing thing that I’ve ever witnessed as a journalist.”
The CNN anchor also frequently spars with Trump staff like press secretary Sarah Sanders, routinely making news for his exchanges in what has become her increasingly rare press briefings.