text: PBS was pummeled on social media after it acknowledged having spliced in video of previous years' Washington, D.C., fireworks in its live "A Capitol Fourth" broadcast Monday night. 
   
   Hundreds of viewers complained on the annual show's Twitter and Facebook pages that the fireworks display couldn't be live because the images were in clear weather: 
   
   An image from PBS' 'A Capitol Fourth' Independence Day show Monday night. 
   
   Washington, however, was heavily overcast and foggy Monday night — which was readily apparent as the pyrotechnics faded into dense clouds: 
   
   Fireworks explode Monday night over the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. AP 
   
   About 10 p.m. ET, the show's Facebook and Twitter pages acknowledged that the supposedly "live" show was, in fact, " a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years." 
   
   We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do. #July4thPBS — A Capitol Fourth (@July4thPBS) July 5, 2016 
   
   Reaction online was swift and savage: 
   
   @July4thPBS Only in DC could a PBS show become a scandal #July4thPBS #capitolfourth — thedcfloridian (@thedcfloridian) July 5, 2016 
   
   @July4thPBS How is using stock video patriotic? If I wanted that, I'd watch YouTube. #fake #July4thPBS — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) July 5, 2016 
   
   #Blessed to see the fireworks from my apt window & watch #July4thPBS. Tho, the fireworks out my window don't look like @pbs. #fake? ?????? — Tina (@tinpant) July 5, 2016 
   
   Not cool @pbs.... Fake footage of fireworks on the Fourth???? It's cloudy and rainy in DC. Those shots are clearly not from tonight. — Chris Wallgren (@seawall77) July 5, 2016 
   
   PBS representatives didn't immediately return NBC News' calls for comment Monday night. ||||| As clouds swirled over dress rehearsal for PBS’s “A Capitol Fourth” on Sunday morning on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, host Tom Bergeron couldn’t help but throw in a few jokes about the weather as he practiced his lines via teleprompter. 
   
   “Thunder, lightning and torrential downpours!” Bergeron said on stage as he reeled off what audiences could expect during PBS’s annual Fourth of July fireworks and concert special. Later, he added, “We’ve only had six tornado warnings.” Although there were laughs all around, would Bergeron panic if he woke up Monday morning for the actual show and saw a gray sky? 
   
   [D.C.-area forecast: Rain likely for the Fourth, but not necessarily a total washout all day and evening] 
   
   Tom Bergeron, host of “A Capitol Fourth.” (Capital Concerts) 
   
   “Oh, no,” he told us backstage. He’s not worried about potential rain. “The first rule of improv, as I was taught it, is you say yes to everything. You don’t tense up. … I’m open for anything. That doesn’t bother me.” 
   
   Of course, it helps that Bergeron has seen basically everything in his decades as an Emmy-winning TV host, from “Hollywood Squares” to “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” He’s especially unfazed when it comes to live television, given that he has co-hosted ABC’s hit reality competition show “Dancing With the Stars” since 2005, and that’s always a frenzied couple of hours. 
   
   So even though “A Capitol Fourth” (airing on PBS at 8 p.m., live-streamed on PBS.org and Facebook Live) is on a tight schedule, packed with performances from Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Sutton Foster, Yolanda Williams, Cassadee Pope and Christopher Jackson, you can expect some of Bergeron’s signature ad-libs between proceedings. He’s especially jazzed to meet Jackson, who plays George Washington in the smash musical “Hamilton”; Bergeron saw the show last month and loved it, although he quipped during rehearsal that he had to take out a second mortgage to afford tickets. 
   
   And is Bergeron especially eager to have the best seat in the house for the fireworks, with his prime perch on the West Lawn? 
   
   “To be honest with you, the fireworks — even though that gets such attention — is the least interesting part of it to me. I love that first moment walking out on the stage, seeing all the people, seeing the Capitol building … and there’s all the incredible talent,” Bergeron said. “Fireworks, they’re nice, but I’ve seen a lot of fireworks. Sorry, that’s not what gets me here. Everything else gets me here.” ||||| The annual Independence Day concert and fireworks show was held on the National Mall July 4, despite dense cloud cover that obscured the fireworks for some. (A Capitol Fourth/PBS) 
   
   If you were watching Washington’s Fourth of July fireworks outside on Monday night and also happened to catch PBS’s broadcast of “A Capitol Fourth,” you might have noticed something looked…a little off. 
   
   The actual weather in Washington was cloudy and misty, making it quite difficult to view the fireworks. But on “A Capitol Fourth,” the annual concert special that airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, many of the fireworks (primarily in the second half of the display) looked glorious in a clear sky. Immediately, people started commenting on Twitter: 
   
   [Tom Bergeron previews PBS’s ‘A Capitol Fourth’: No, he’s not worried about rain] 
   
   When the cloud coverage is bad and PBS plays fake footage of the fireworks in DC — Alexis Sadoti (@AlexisASadoti) July 5, 2016 
   
   https://twitter.com/tinpant/status/750139052448362496 
   
   Not cool @pbs…. Fake footage of fireworks on the Fourth???? It's cloudy and rainy in DC. Those shots are clearly not from tonight. — Chris Wallgren (@seawall77) July 5, 2016 
   
   Just flipped over to PBS here in the newsroom. Wow that is stock footage. They did have a few live shots, you could see the foggy conditions — JimMacKayOnAir (@JimMacKayOnAir) July 5, 2016 
   
   Another giveaway? On TV, you couldn’t see the construction scaffolding on the Capitol building, which has been there for many months. 
   
   Thanks for your fake coverage of the July 4th, Washington DC fireworks PBS! No clouds, No scaffolding on the Capitol #July4thPBS,#beAshamed — JoeyV (@therealjoeyjoe) July 5, 2016 
   
   As soon as the show ended, producers from Capital Concerts owned up to the fact that not all of its footage was from the live fireworks show. (In the first segment of the display, while singer Cassadee Pope was singing, some scenes did show a cloudy sky.) “We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do,” the “Capitol Fourth” account tweeted. 
   
   We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do. #July4thPBS — A Capitol Fourth (@July4thPBS) July 5, 2016 
   
   A “Capitol Fourth” spokeswoman confirmed to us that because the weather was so overcast, the producers pulled together a combination of clips “to make the best television show.” She added this is the first time the producers have had to take such measures. 
   
   Still, some viewers were not happy that PBS wasn’t upfront about the pre-recorded nature of the fireworks: 
   
   @July4thPBS should have at least let viewers know "some portions pre-recorded" — Melissa Jensen (@jensenmama) July 5, 2016 
   
   It was a fraudulent thing to do.@July4thPBS @nbcwashington — Ben Anderson (@AndStrats) July 5, 2016 
   
   @July4thPBS How is using stock video patriotic? If I wanted that, I'd watch YouTube. #fake #July4thPBS — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) July 5, 2016 
   
   Feeling personally victimized by @PBS and #capitalfourth for using stock firework footage. It's cloudy and gross today not perfectly clear — Katherine Sisemore (@KSisemore) July 5, 2016 
   
   …and so on. 
   
   1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × A soggy Fourth for fireworks on the Mall in Washington View Photos Rain or shine, the fireworks display is an annual tradition over the nation’s capital on Independence Day. Caption Rain or shine, the fireworks display is an annual tradition over the nation’s capital on Independence Day. July 4, 2016 Spectators on the Mall watch the fireworks show. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
   
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   Why ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is one of those rare movies that’s better than the book ||||| A Texas teen is in the hospital recovering from horrific injuries sustained when he and some friends tried to make a “fireworks bomb” by tying together hundreds of sparklers. 
   
   Rowdy Radford had his leg removed and is suffering a litany of medical issues at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Houston after his accident on Saturday. 
   
   A family friend set up a GoFundMe page to help cover Radford’s medical expenses and provide family and friends with updates on the boy’s condition. 
   
   “Both of his arms had injuring including pins and screws needed to hold his wrists and elbows together. Several of his fingers were blown off, both hands severally burned along with his face. He also just got out of surgery from having an operation on both of his eyes and they are not sure if he will ever see again,” the GoFundMe states. 
   
   
   
   
   
   “This wonderful young man is best friends with both of my children. He is going to be a freshman this year and wanted to be a mechanic when he grew up.” 
   
   Alongside the GoFundMe caption is a graphic photo of Radford that shows the deep extent of his injuries 
   
   Since he was admitted to the hospital, Radford has had most of his left leg amputated. Doctors were able to reattach fingers but cannot promise he will ever be able use them. Radford also has a 50% chance of total vision loss. 
   
   When asked by Click2Houston about her son’s injury, Radford’s mother explained that she wanted as many people as possible to see the photos in order to prevent further injuries. 
   
   “I just want this out, I want everybody to see this so they’ll know what happened, don’t let their kids do this. It’s not worth it,” Wendy Smith said. 
   
   RELATED: A horrific carnival ride injury to a girl’s scalp has a family wondering why workers didn’t act sooner 
   
   Despite Radford’s grim diagnosis, his aunt, Samantha Hansen, believes he will pull through. 
   
   “We know he’s going to pull through, it wouldn’t be Rowdy if he didn’t,” she said. 
   
   While many have donated to Radford’s GoFundMe page, it has quickly evolved into an Internet comment thread about parenting. Many commenters have trashed Smith’s parenting skills in a not so nice manner. 
   
   “Why are you asking for donations it’s not other people fault that,that happen to your son nobody tell him do homemade bombs that was his choice,” Welner Guevara wrote on the page. 
   
   Others have chosen to defend Radford and his mother by telling the haters to get lost. 
   
   “If you dont wamt (sic) to donate then don’t. You sick people come on here and leave these nasty comments. This is a child who is seriously injured, what is wrong with you people!?” one user wrote. 
   
   “I hope the absolute best recovery for this poor boy and his family.” ||||| Tweet with a location 
   
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target: – Noticed something a bit off about PBS' A Capitol Fourth broadcast Monday? So did hundreds of people who took to Facebook and Twitter, per NBC News. Though host Tom Bergeron initially laughed off concerns that the live concert and fireworks display over Washington would be rained out, per the Washington Post, the sky above the Capitol Building was foggy and overcast as the fireworks began. That made seeing the show a bit difficult—so PBS intervened. Mingled with misty footage of fireworks over the Capitol building, with scaffolding clearly visible, was stock footage of fireworks from previous celebrations. Viewers were quick to call out the "fraudulent" scheme—there was no disclaimer during the "live" broadcast—noting the stock footage showed a clear sky over the Capitol Building, and no scaffolding, per the Post. Afterward, the show admitted to showing "a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years" because of the poor conditions. "It was the patriotic thing to do," reads a tweet from the Capitol Fourth account. "We apologize for any confusion this may have caused." The apology didn't appease some, though. "How is using stock video patriotic?" one user wrote. "If I wanted that, I'd watch YouTube." (A Texas teen tried to make a "fireworks bomb" and paid a steep price.)