US

The new face of SNAP? Food stamps buy lobster for surfer and his buddies [VIDEO]

Font Size:

During an hour-long deep dive into the growing use of food stamps in America, Fox News highlighted “the new face of food stamps.”

That new face is a pina colada-sipping, lobster-loving lothario named Jason Greenslate.

Greenslate, a 29-year-old La Jolla California surfer and musician who sings that he does not want a “motherfucking job” and has “fuck no” guilt about living on $200 of what he calls “free money ” — or what the government called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits — while he avoids a job to hang out on the beach, sing and chase women.

“Wake up, go down to the beach, hang out with my friends, hit on some chicks, start drinking,” Greenslate said, describing his day to Fox News’ John Roberts in an interview for the channel’s “The Great Food Stamp Binge” hosted by Bret Baier.

“I surf everyday. It’s wonderful, man. Just get away from everything, clear your head. Get out with the boys. Have a good time.” Greenslate said.

Roberts reports that Greenslate has no fixed address, instead choosing the life of a beach bum staying with family, friends and girlfriends, living off them and $200 a month in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which he uses to buy gourmet items at the grocery store.

“I don’t got a paycheck coming in so I qualify,” Greenslate told Roberts.

Fox News’ cameras joined Greenslate on one of his grocery shopping expeditions. With his Electronic Benefit Transfer card (EBT), the vehicle for food stamp benefits, Greenslate purchases sushi, lobster and coconut water.

“All paid for by our wonderful tax dollars,” he said with a smirk, leaving the store with his purchases.

“I’ll usually get sushi, but make it my own way, they didn’t have any good fish, so I just got the premade stuff,” he told Roberts after the grocery store visit, explaining his typical food buy.

Greenslate and his friends grilled the lobster along with chichken and hot dogs and shared the meat.

Greenslate has no intention of getting a job.

“That’s not the direction I’m going right now,” he said to Roberts, explaining his ambition is to be a rock star.

“It’s going great,” Greenslate said about his state of unemployment. “Yeah, it’s going really well.”

“This is the way I live and I don’t see anything changing,” he said, adding that he does not see anything wrong with his lifestyle on food stamps. “Why would it be bad in any way? It’s free food. It’s awesome.”

When presented with Greenslate’s situation, American Enterprise Institute scholar Charles Murray told Fox News he was not surprised they were able to find a person like the La Jolla surfer.

“Jason [Greenslate] has cousins in every town in America,” Murray said.

“That guy is kidding himself,” Murray added. “He is passing time as pleasantly as possible right now. That’s not what constitutes a satisfying human life. The sad thing is that the whole philosophical grounding of the welfare state encourages people to think of life in terms of the picnic.”

Follow Caroline on Twitter