Was 53-year-old Denzel Young arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for announcing in a Walmart he would pay for every customer's cart and then leaving the store? No, that story originated on a known 'fauxtire' site that makes up false stories for entertainment and profit, it is not true.
It came from an article published on April 18, 2018 on Huzlers titled "Fake God's Plan: Man Just Leaves Store After Announcing He Will Pay For Every Customers' Cart" (archived here) which opened:
BATON ROUGE - A Louisiana man was arrested after playing a 'God's Plan prank' at a local Walmart.
According to police, Denzel Young, 53, entered a local Walmart and made a public announcement to costumers that he had recently won the lottery and will be paying for every customers' cart saying: "Ay y'all, I just won the lotto a few days ago, everything's on me, go get anything y'all want". Similar to rapper Drake's 'God's Plan' music video, where he enters a supermarket and pays for every customers' cart. However, unlike Drake, As hundreds of customers happily ran to items they wanted, Denzel nonchalantly walked out the Walmart, making his promise a lie.
People who only saw the article on Facebook might have come away with the impression it was a real news article:
Fake God's Plan: Man Just Leaves Store After Announcing He Will Pay For Every Customers' Cart
BATON ROUGE - A Louisiana man was arrested after playing a 'God's Plan prank' at a local Walmart. According to police, Denzel Young, 53, entered a local Walmart and made a public announcement to costumers that he had recently won the lottery and...
But Huzlers styles itself as a "fauxtire" website and carries a disclaimer at the bottom of each page:
Huzlers.com is the most infamous fauxtire & satire entertainment website in the world. If it's trending on social media you'll find it here!
According to Splinter News the site is run by Pablo Reyes and David Martinez and according to Buzzfeed Reyes is involved with several other fake news websites. They tend to shy away from political stories, opting instead to write for a more "urban" audience, with stories about rappers, criminals and celebrities.
We wrote about huzlers.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Mexican Boy NOT Arrested & Deported For Singing Rancheras At A Local Walmart Store
- Fake News: 11 Year Old Boy NOT Arrested For Yodeling In A Walmart Store
- Fake News: NO McDonald's Employee Fired For Putting His Mixtapes In Happy Meals
- Fake News: Tide Did NOT Confirm Tide Pods To Be Discontinued After Several Deaths Due To "Tide Pod Challenge"
- Fake News: Man Did NOT Beat Friend Nearly To Death After He Finds Him Sleeping With His Sex Robot
