Was 9-year old viral rap sensation "Lil Tay" picked up by child protection services? No, that's not true: the rumor about that came from a website that bills itself as "fauxtire" (faux satire), it is not real.
The story appeared in an article published on May 5, 2018 by Huzlers that was titled "Viral Sensation "Lil Tay" Has Been Picked Up By Los Angeles Child Protection Services" (archived here) which opened:
LOS ANGELES - Reports have surfaced that obnoxious 9 year old internet celebrity 'Lil Tay' has been picked up by California child protective services. According to the services, Lil Tay is a victim of "extremely poor parenting" and needs "urgent help".
Lil Tay was picked up by child protective services Friday afternoon when service agents visited Lil Tay and her families home in Beverly Hills. Agents decided to pick up Lil Tay after one of her instagram videos was shown in the child service office. It's reported that multiple agents immediately sprung into action and raced to Lil Tay's home, even using emergency vehicle sirens. "We must save that girl" said Agent Chad Murphy, "we must save her before she ends up in the back up of 2002 Chevy Astro doing a low budget bdsm porno scene for half a gram of cocaine and a can of arizona ice tea at 18 years old".
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail might have mistaken it for real news about a kid in need of intervention:
Viral Sensation "Lil Tay" Has Been Picked Up By Los Angeles Child Protection Services
LOS ANGELES - Reports have surfaced that obnoxious 9 year old internet celebrity 'Lil Tay' has been picked up by California child protective services. According to the services, Lil Tay is a victim of "extremely poor parenting" and needs "urgent...
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: Research Did NOT Show Cardi B Fans Are More Likely To Catch STDs And Cheat
- 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
