FACT CHECK: Did Marjorie Taylor Greene Say This Quote About Electricity?
A post shared on Facebook claims Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “If it weren’t for electricity, we’d all be watching television by candlelight.”
Verdict: False
There is no evidence Greene said the alleged quote. A spokesperson for Greene’s office denied the representative made the comment. The statement has previously been attributed to late comedian George Gabel.
Fact Check:
The Facebook post shows an edited image of Greene wearing a tinfoil hat with two thumbs up. The “Fox News” logo can be seen in the bottom-right corner along with text that reads, “because National Enquirer doesn’t have a television channel.”
Additional text in the image reads, “Moments in Stupidity with Marjorie Taylor Greene.” The image includes a text bubble stemming from Greene that reads, “If it weren’t for electricity, we’d all be watching TV by candlelight.”
There is no evidence Greene made the remark. The phrase does not appear on the Georgia Representative’s official Twitter or Facebook accounts or in her public press releases or news appearances. Likewise, there are no credible reports that attribute such a quote about electricity to Greene.
Nick Dyer, Greene’s communication director, confirmed in an emailed statement to Check Your Fact that the claim “is absolutely absurd. Congresswoman Greene did not say this.” (RELATED: Did Marjorie Taylor Greene Say, ‘We All Want Earth To Be The Best Planet In The World’?)
A keyword search revealed the quote had previously been attributed to comedian George Gobel, who died in 1991. This quote, described as “one of the classic one-liners of American comedy,” was said by Gobel at a 2-hour television tribute to Thomas Edison in 1954 to honor the inventor’s incandescent lamp innovation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Check Your Fact has previously debunked similar quotes misattributed to Greene, such as “Jesus loves the U.S most, and that is why the Bible is written in English,” and “People are dying who have never died before.”