Eva Longoria in 2006. (Credit: Wikipedia)

The Inquisitr unpublished an article that slammed Eva Longoria for endorsing eyeglasses and falsely claiming she never has worn prescription eyeglasses before. The article’s link now goes to a Story Not Found page.

The Inquistr’s story was headlined “Eva Longoria Endorses Prescription Glasses Even Though She Has Never Used Them.” It was apparently based on a Sydney Morning Herald column criticizing Longoria’s endorsement deal with Specsavers Australia. As iMediaEthics wrote last night, Longoria called out the Sydney Morning Herald and its columnist Jenna Clarke for not fact checking. Clarke said she searched online for images of Longoria wearing eyeglasses and only found a couple so Longoria was “shilling” for eyeglasses when she didn’t need them.

A screenshot of the now-unpublished article.

But Longoria responded on Twitter that she has had a prescription for eyeglasses for more than two years, when she bought a handful of eyeglasses, and that the reason there aren’t a lot of photos of her wearing eyeglasses is because they are for reading only. She pointed to photos of her wearing glasses when she has  read from prepared remarks at a press conference and at a Congressional hearing and noted she doesn’t wear glasses in other photos of her on the red carpet because she doesn’t have to read anything when she’s on the red carpet.

After seeing Longoria’s complaint, iMediaEthics checked to see if any other outlets criticized Longoria for her eyeglass endorsement. The Inquisitr’s article was highly critical of Longoria without any apparent fact checking.

The article stated: “For Eva Longoria, her decision to endorse prescription glasses may have been her worst product endorsement choice yet.” It went on to say Longoria’s career “has taken a bit of a dive” since Desperate Housewives went off the air. The article calls out Longoria for apparently not looking “natural” wearing eyeglasses, whatever that means.

“Eva Longoria’s latest product endorsement decision has not been her finest moment,” the Inquisitr wrote. “While in Australia, Eva Longoria has been endorsing budget eye wear and optometrist, Specsavers. The eye wear company has even touted her as one of the judges in their Spectacle Wearer of the Year competition for 2015. But, as the images below shows, while Specsavers may be paying good money to get Eva Longoria to wear their product, she does not at all look like a natural spectacle wearer.”

A screenshot of the now-unpublished article.

The article went on:

“And you can add into the mix the fact Eva Longoria does not need prescription glasses, nor has she wore glasses as a fashion statement in the past. If Specsavers were getting someone like Red Foo of LMFAO to endorse their product, one could understand using a non-prescription glass wearer to endorse their product when part of his image is his glasses. However, the closest Eva Longoria has come to needing glasses is when she dons sunglasses to avoid the paparazzi. As Jenna Clarke from the Sydney Morning Herald pointed out, Eva Longoria looked ‘uncomfortable and unsteady wearing a pair around Sydney,’ as she promoted Specsavers recently.”

iMediaEthics wrote to the Inquisitr to ask how it fact checked its claims and if it would correct given Longoria’s statement saying she’s had prescription eyeglasses since 2013.

iMediaEthics didn’t hear back from the Inquisitr but the story disappeared without a correction in its place.

The Inquistr has published a follow up article titled “Eva Longoria Does Wear Glasses, Calls out Haters who Insist she Doesn’t.” 

The Inquisitr’s first story, now unpublished, on Eva Longoria, and new story correcting the record.

Of course, the Inquistr would have been one of those “haters” since it criticized her endorsement deal.

The new article at least admits “Other publications, including the Inquisitr, repeated the Herald‘s claim that Eva Longoria doesn’t wear glasses.”

“The Inquisitr pulled its own article about Eva’s glasses after the Herald‘s original claim was rebutted,” it added.