Fake News: Kanye West Did NOT Say He's Not Black In Recently Deleted Tweet

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Kanye West Did NOT Say He's Not Black In Recently Deleted Tweet

Did Kanye West tweet he hasn't identified as a black man since 2006 and that he is a dark skinned white man as far as he knows? No, that't not true. A faked screenshot of a supposedly deleted tweet that's making the rounds claiming that has been created by fake satire ("fauxtire") site Huzlers, it s not real.

The fake tweet appeared in an article published on April 28, 2018 titled "Kanye West Says He's Not Black In Recently Deleted Tweet (See Screenshot)" (archived here) which opened:

LOS ANGELES - In the midst of the controversy surrounding Kanye West for revealing he supports president Trump, Kanye tweeted a shocking tweet which he almost immediately deleted. However a screenshot of the tweet was able to be taken. See screenshot below:

you_doodle_pro_2018-04-28t03_33_52z.jpg

Kanye West is claiming to have not identified as a black man since 2006 and that he identifies as a "dark skinned white man" which absolutely makes no sense. Is something wrong with Kanye? We expect the screenshot to be be viral and therefore addressed by Kanye himself.

The full text of the faked tweet read:

I haven't identified myself as a black man since 2006. I'm a dark skinned white man as far as I know. sorry not sorry. #maga

No such tweet was sent out by West or it would have been massively screenshotted by many people all over the internet. The filename of the tweet image would also not read "you_doodle_pro_2018-04-28t03_33_52z.jpg", which indicates it was altered with a program named You Doodle.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail might have thought the news was real:

Kanye West Says He's Not Black In Recently Deleted Tweet (See Screenshot)

LOS ANGELES - In the midst of the controversy surrounding Kanye West for revealing he supports president Trump, Kanye tweeted a shocking tweet which he almost immediately deleted. However a screenshot of the tweet was able to be taken. See screenshot below...

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!

The faked tweet is a commentary on the recent string of mutually praising tweets between President Donald Trump and the iconic rapper which has taken many people by surprise:

Trump and Kanye West Share Praise-Filled Tweets. And, Apparently, 'Dragon Energy.'

WASHINGTON - As crazy as it seems - though in this world, that's a high bar - the mercurial president accused of racist comments and the bombastic rapper accused of supporting him have long seemed to enjoy each other's company.

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:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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