Fake News: Sam Hyde NOT The Shooter at Thousand Oaks Borderline Bar & Grill Mass Shooting

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Sam Hyde NOT The Shooter at Thousand Oaks Borderline Bar & Grill Mass Shooting

Was right-wing comedian Sam Hyde the shooter at the November 8, 2018 shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, CA? No, that's not true: while the shooting did happen, police say they have not identified the shooter yet and like with every breaking mass shooting situation internet trolls are saying the comedian did it.

TAn example can be found in this tweet published on November 8, 2018 from a Twitter user named "setrack" (archived here) which read:

"BREAKING: ABC 7 reports that the suspected gunman in the Thousand Oaks shooting is a white male age approximately 35 named Sam Hyde, according to multiple witnesses. Further details to come #thousandoaks #shooting"

Of course ABC7 reported no such thing.

For actual information about the shooting, check out live coverage of CNN here:

At least 11 people injured in shooting at a bar in Thousand Oaks

A shooter opened fire at a bar in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night, leaving at least 11 people injured, California authorities said.

Blaming right-wing comedian Sam Hyde of being the suspect after a mass shooting is a strange in-joke that has been going on for years.

Whenever there's a mass shooting, trolls blame comedian Sam Hyde

Sam Hyde is not the perpetrator of a mass shooting. But whenever a shooter strikes and the news reports casualties, trolls race to name Hyde as the culprit. In the worst cases, authorities have been tricked into giving Hyde's name to the press.

Here is more information about Sam Hyde and the infamous "Sam Hyde Is The Shooter" meme originally propagated by 4chan trolls:

Sam Hyde

Sam Hyde is an Internet comedian who co-founded the sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme and rose to viral video fame after staging a satirical TEDx talk about wonders of the future at Drexel University in October 2013.

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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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