Man behind Romney's "47 percent" footage surfaces

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (WSVN) -- The man who shot the video footage featuring Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comments revealed his identity Wednesday during a news interview. This is not the first time the South Florida resident made local news.

Bartender Scott Prouty, who lives in a Hollywood Beach apartment, recorded the Republican candidate's inflammatory remarks on May of 2012 during a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser in Boca Raton. Speaking to wealthy donors, Romney said Obama supporters come from the segment of the population that doesn't pay taxes and thinks the government should look after them.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney stated during the high-end dinner. "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, you name it."

President Barack Obama used Romney's comments during the second presidential debate, and many pundits think they dealt a crippling blow to the former Utah governor's presidential prospects. "Think about who he was talking about, folks on Social Security who have worked all their lives," the Commander-in-Chief said during the debate.

In an exclusive interview with MSNBC host Ed Schultz, the 38-year-old registered independent said, "I feel good about it. I feel good about the way it turned out. I don't have any regrets. It turned out exactly the way I hoped it would. People need to hear what [Romney] really thinks, and he was saying exactly the opposite in public."

Even though Prouty had avoided coming to local media since recording the widely quoted footage, he made news Sept. 25, 2005 when he and two other men dove into a Davie canal to rescue a woman trapped inside her car. Henceforth, however, Prouty will be remembered as the South Florida man who inflicted a severe blow to Romney's presidential aspirations.

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