'Mancow': Waterboarding 'Absolutely Real'

Erich “Mancow” Muller is outraged by the Gawker report that he faked his own waterboarding, the Chicago Tribune reports. The right-wing shock jock defended himself last night on MSNBC's Countdown: “It’s like saying that Mike Tyson’s daughter didn’t really hang herself,” he said. He theorized that “dark forces” were seeking to discredit his conclusion that waterboarding is torture.

Muller said his publicist used the word “hoax” in an email because the Citadel, building security, and the Chicago police had forbidden the stunt. Keith Olbermann confirmed seeing the e-mails, but said his MSNBC staff dismissed hoax allegations. The Marine who waterboarded Mancow admitted yesterday he was new to the technique: “I went to waterboarding.org and looked it up," he said. "I didn't know what I was doing." (More Erich "Mancow" Muller stories.)