We wrote earlier this month about accusations of plagiarism against a column written by Fox News’ Oliver North. North had quoted comments from a “dear friend” Sammy L. Davis, but it turned out those comments were actually published in a 1990 book.
North defended the incident and said that Davis had e-mailed him the text in question.
However, the Washington Post reported that Davis, who the plagiarized comments were attributed to in North’s column, was surprised by the whole incident. According to the Washington Post: “Davis told Norman earlier this week that North never asked him for the comment, despite what North wrote in his column. Davis also said he never intended or authorized North to publish the quote. What’s more, the comment wasn’t even about Memorial Day, despite North’s characterization.”
The Post reported that Davis told Norman he didn’t realize his e-mail would be published and credited to him.