Onion And Satire

Did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu call for a return to the ancient homeland of Iran by the Jewish people? No, that's not true. The story originated from a well known satire site that posted the article to make fun of Israel's settlement policy on the West Bank of the Jordan river. Many people in the Middle Eeast are probably…

Was the flu vaccine recalled because the government tracking microchips in it were defective? No, that's not true: the story was launched by a satire website that aimed to make fun of the various unproven conspiracy theories surrounding vaccination, for example that they contain government tracking chips or you get autism from them. Unfortunately running such a fake satirical headline…

Did Marine One, the presidential helicopter, crash into the White House? No, that's not true. The fake story originated from a military-themed satire website that was commenting on the recent series of accidents in military aviation which have cost the lives of 35 people. The Marine One crash did not happen. The story originated from an article published on May…

Did North Korean leader Kim Jong-un defect to South Korea? No, that's not true: that story originated on a military themed satire website, if you read it anywhere else you should know it came from there and it is not real. The supposed defection was reported in an article published on April 30, 2018 by Duffel Blog which was titled…

Is there a "cut off your genitals" challenge making the rounds online among teens? Nope, if you believed that you fell for a piece of satire. There is no such thing, it is not real and rumors about it are entirely false. Satirical website The Onion posted an article on April 4, 2018 titled "New 'Cut Off Your Genitals' Challenge…

Chicago, IL - In a surprise announcement the management of famous satire website The Onion has announced today it will transition to being a regular news outlet. A statement released to the press read: In the end simple economics led to this decision. It is just too much work to keep inventing outlandish stories that can compete with all the…

Was Apple CEO Tim Cook shot multiple times by police during a press event for the upcoming iPhone 11 because they mistook the phone for a gun? Nope, that was just a piece of satire and social commentary from a satire website accompanied by a digitally altered photo. The "news" appeared in an article published on March 29, 2018 by…

Is the U.S. military busy building a wall out of sandbags on the border with Mexico after President Donald Trump hinted that funding for his wall would come from the military budget? And are they rounding up 200,000 troops to get the job done? Nope, that's not true: this story was invented by a military satire weblog and has no…

Has Banksy's identity been revealed as Rose Biggin, 89 years old, of Camden Town in London? Nope, that's not true, it is just the latest in a string of fake Banksy identity revelation stories. The identity of the famous street artist remains as it should be, shrouded in mystery. This particular version was published on March 28, 2018 by satirical…

Did Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman appear on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show? That would have been fun but it didn't actually happen. Yet. Who knowns what the future will bring. But for now the rumor can be classified as not true. It started with an article published on March 22, 2018 by the Pan-Arabia Enquirer wich was titled "Mohammad…