New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters grabbed media watchers' attention Tuesday morning when he appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" for nearly an hour, speaking barely a word, and then completely disappeared.
"Did he say anything?" co-host Joe Scarborough asked once he realized Peters was gone. "Not the entire time?"
But Peters explained to The Huffington Post Tuesday morning exactly what happened:
"I didn't flee the set, I assure you," he wrote in an email. "I came on the show, as I usually do, to talk about what's happening in Congress. I did that around 6:45 a.m. And I left the Ferguson discussion today to the others on the panel like Gene Robinson, who was able to capably and intelligently discuss it far better than I would have. One thing I've learned from doing TV: I've never regretted not opening my mouth. It's always the times when you do -- and shouldn't have -- that get you in trouble."
Peters echoed this same sentiment on Twitter as well: