Newscaster Mocked For Promoting Story On Youth Drug Use With Bizarre Teen 'Bedroom'

A St. Louis newscaster was mocked on Thursday after Twitter users suggested a photo about an upcoming story on teen drug use was staged.

Paige Hulsey, an anchor/reporter at CBS affiliate KMOV, took to social media to promote a story about how a parent can tell if their teenager is doing drugs.

The tweet was accompanied by a photo of what Hulsey suggested was “a normal teen’s bedroom” — and therein lies the rub.

Looks like a normal teen’s bedroom, right? Think again. Coming up on @KMOV, we’ll show you what parents should be looking for so they can identify signs of drug use. I was shocked at what I found in this room!!! #stl#n4tmpic.twitter.com/Df2yegDPUq

— Paige Hulsey (@paigehulsey) June 24, 2021

For various reasons, people were very skeptical that the bedroom belonged to a real teen.

why does this teen live in an office https://t.co/G0cDE0c5Mh

— Mike Murphy (@mcwm) June 24, 2021

Lol they literally took an empty room in the newsplex and styled it into a fake version of what they think a stoner teen’s bedroom looks like https://t.co/nx2NliCss7

— Arielle Castillo (@ariellec) June 24, 2021

yes i'd be very concerned if my teen lived in what is obviously a commercial office space hastily decorated to look like a 45-year-old's idea of a teenager's bedroom with subversive elements like tie-dye and Catch-22

— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) June 24, 2021

Also all the bottles scattered around are Coca-Cola products, which makes it look like some fucked attempt at placement advertising, and which is also pretty ironic, CONSIDERING

— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) June 24, 2021

I dont think a bong, some bud, and a crunchy sock is all that shocking. I'm more shocked that a teen has dual nightstands...... https://t.co/ILgZmSTWDS

— CHRIS KLEMENS (@ChrisKlemens) June 24, 2021

trying to hide weed from my parents with my mile 420 sign https://t.co/EPca7YdXMr

— Chelsea Cirruzzo (@ChelseaCirruzzo) June 24, 2021

People are talking about the Mile 420 sign, but I think the most disturbing thing we need to discuss here is the plague of teenagers using office-building carpet tile in their bedrooms. https://t.co/PqF04VngAY

— Hank Green (@hankgreen) June 24, 2021

this is a fake room set up to look like a teenagers room and it has the most Hello Fellow Kids energy i've ever seen https://t.co/vEHUpz6xnI

— rachel syme (@rachsyme) June 24, 2021

"NO STUDIO LIGHTING AND CAMERAS IN YOUR BEDROOM UNTIL YOU'RE 18, YOUNG LADY" https://t.co/Wy3Oosachx

— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair 🦥 (@senatorshoshana) June 24, 2021

Others found other problems with the tweet beyond a possibly bogus bedroom.

This framing is so troubling:
-The War on Drugs has ruined lives. DEA tactics should be approached with skepticism
-False equivalence between vaping/weed use ("Mile 420") & more dangerous drugs
-Perpetuates unrealistic stereotypes about drug use
-No public health experts quoted https://t.co/kpqjO6xheV

— Lauren Caruba (@LaurenCaruba) June 24, 2021

One Twitter user noted the real issue at stake.

If your teen is living in a commercial office space, complete with drop-down ceiling & high-traffic carpeting, you have bigger concerns than whether or not he/she is using so much cannabis that they have turned their bedroom into a dispensary, complete with "Mile 420" sign. https://t.co/BDp6tmLFQ2

— Fr. Robert R. Ballecer, SJ (@padresj) June 24, 2021

Hulsey told HuffPost that the reason the teen’s bedroom might look like an office is that it was an office.

“I said that in the liveshot. ‘We are inside DEA headquarters downtown,’” she told HuffPost. “I also said that the space made to look like a bedroom was set up by the group ‘Addiction is Real.’”

Hulsey admitted that the look of a normal teen’s bedroom can be debated, but said, “the purpose of the segment was to bring attention to youth drug use.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.