How "Crisis Actor" Became Part of the Conspiracy Lexicon

This week, conspiracy theorists claimed that the student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were really "crisis actors" hired to play the part of victims in order to build a case against guns. The shooting never took place, they said, and the whole tragedy has been staged. For a short time on Tuesday, the top trending videos on YouTube detailed the theory. Soon, even mainstream outlets like CNN were using the term "crisis actor" to debunk the claim.

While false flag conspiracy theories (in which the government is alleged to have carried out an attack) have been around for a long time, it's a relatively new development for theorists to claim that a shooting is entirely fictitious. This week, Jason Koebler of Motherboard looked into the origins of the term "crisis actor" and found that despite its widespread use, it's a relatively new part of the conspiracy lexicon. He and Bob talk about the origin of the phrase and how a former professor popularized it after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.