Onion And Satire

Was a massive root system discovered under Devils Tower, a geological formation designated as a national monument in Wyoming? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Wyoming State Parks confirmed that the claim originated from a satirical social media post. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on July 6, 2021. The post featured a picture of…

Was Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrested by U.S. Navy SEALs on June 1, 2021? No, that's not true: Not only is there no credible information about such an arrest, but Fauci has made several telecommunications and public appearances since June 1, 2021 and federal law bars the U.S. military from taking…

Did an 8-year-old boy named Lucas Armitage shoot and mutilate a home intruder? No, that's not true: The 2009 clip is a production of The Onion satirical digital media company and that child is just an actor. The clip also contains a watermark in the bottom left-hand corner that reads "FORJOKES," another Instagram account that posts humorous content. The claim…

Did CNN run a caption saying the shooter who killed 10 people in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021, was factually Arabic but morally white? No, that's not true: the screenshot with the caption originated on a satire site but took on a life of its own when it went viral independently and was taken to be real by several…

Did Ted Cruz lose all his Marriott points? No, that's not true: The story making the claim about the Texas senator is satirical. It wasn't meant to be real, although some social media users appeared to take it as such. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published in the "Laughing in Disbelief" section on patheos.com on February 21,…

Did Twitter shut down its entire network to slow the spread of negative news about Joe Biden? No, that's not true: the story was published by The Bablylon Bee (a satire website) after Twitter did experience some downtime shortly after a controversial story from the New York Post was blocked on Twitter under their hacked materials policy (which they later…

Did Fisher-Price release 'My First Peaceful Protest' playset with a house that children can set ablaze? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a well-known satire website. This satire piece stems from the recent protests that have been happening across the United States following the death of George Floyd. The claim originated in an article published…

Did LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers' leading scorers this season, wear lace collars to honor the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a known satire website. Neither James, Davis, nor any other NBA players have worn lace collars in the…

Did Netflix tweet that its content is "mostly pedophila-free" in response to criticism over its streaming of "Cuties"? No, that's not true: The claim was made in a satire article on a popular satire site. However, several non-satire sites republished the claim without satire labeling. It also became a meme that appeared to be taken seriously by those who shared…

Did the Department of Justice report that Jeffrey Epstein companion Ghislaine Maxwell tested positive for COVID-19 in a New Hampshire jail? No, it did not: The claim that Maxwell, who was arrested by the FBI in Bedford, New Hampshire, on July 2, 2020, tested positive for COVID-19 is the invention of the satire website The Brown Valley Observer. It was…