Are fans of the singer Cardi B more likely to catch sexually transmitted diseases according to research? And are they more likely to cheat on their partner too? No, that's not true: the science behind this is made up and originated on a faux satire ("fauxtire") website.
The hoax was published on May 3, 2018 by Huzlers under the headline "Research Shows Cardi B Fans Are More Likely To Catch STDs And Cheat" (archived here) which opened:
LOS ANGELES - New reports have shown that Cardi B fans have a 90% higher chance of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease and cheating on their spouse.
A team of researchers from UCLA recently conducted an experiment with 200 female students, making sure that 100 of those students were big Cardi B fans (Group A), while the other 100 were not (Group B). Researchers also made sure that none of the 200 students already had a sexually transmitted disease. The 200 students were then brought back after 6 months for STD testing, however, the students were never explained the purpose of the experiment and were never aware of the STD testing, the testing was simply described as a "regular checkup".
Seems like Huzlers is getting a bit lazy because they published the exact same hoax article with a slightly different title only a week ago:
Fake News: New Research Did NOT Show Cardi B Fans Have a 90% Higher Chance Of Acquiring An STD | Lead Stories
Do Cardi B fans have a 90% higher chance of getting a sexually transmitted disease according to a UCLA study? No, that's not true, there is no such study and the article that spread the news came from a site that regularily transmits fake news.
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: Kanye West Did NOT Announce He Wants To Be A Slave; Will NOT Hold 'Slave Master' Auditions Soon
- Fake News: Florida Man Did NOT Stab Friend For Saying PUBG Is Better Than Fortnite
- Fake News: Kanye West Did NOT Say He's Not Black In Recently Deleted Tweet
- Fake News: New Research Did NOT Show Cardi B Fans Have a 90% Higher Chance Of Acquiring An STD
- Fake News: Cardi B Did NOT Say Bruno Mars Might Be The Baby Daddy
