Did a man named JAmes Wong from Eugene, Oregon get his third testicle removed and did it turn out to have been his dead Siamese twin brother? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a Canadian entertainment website that makes a living by publishing fictional stories often involving weird crimes, bizarre sex acts or strange accidents. It is not real.
The story originated from an article published on February 15, 2019 by World News Daily Report titled "Man gets 3rd testicle removed, discovers it was his dead Siamese brother" (archived here) which opened:
A man who was born with three testicles had a very unpleasant surprise after getting his extra testicle removed last week: he learned that the presumed gland was, in fact, his dead and undeveloped conjoined twin.
51-year old James Wong, from Eugene in Oregon, underwent an orchiectomy last Thursday, a surgery meant to remove his third testicle, which represented a risk of producing excess testosterone and causing health issues.
Less than a week later, he received a call from the hospital telling him that the biopsy had revealed that his testicle wasn't what it seemed.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Man gets 3rd testicle removed, discovers it was his dead Siamese brother
A man who was born with three testicles had a very unpleasant surprise after getting his extra testicle removed last week: he learned that the presumed gland was, in fact, his dead and undeveloped conjoined twin. 51-year old James Wong, from Eugene in Oregon, underwent an orchiectomy last Thursday,
But the man in the picture is actually Singapore politician Low Thia Khiang getting emotional during an interview in 2017:
Low Thia Khiang cries openly during interview in WP documentary
Even the most casual followers of local politics would agree that Singapore's veteran opposition leader Low Thia Khiang is a steely, stoic and largely unemotional man. The secretary-general of the Workers' Party is, after all, 61 now, and come 2018, will be the longest-serving opposition Member of Parliament too.
You can see the interview here, at the exact moment the screenshot was taken:
The website World News Daily Report is a website specialized in posting hoaxes and made up stories. The disclaimer on their website is pretty clear about that even though you have to scroll all the way down the page to find it:
World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.
It is run by Janick Murray-Hall and Olivier Legault, who also run the satirical Journal de Mourréal, a satirical site spoofing the (real) Journal de Montéal. Very often their stories feature an image showing a random crazy mugshot found in a mugshot gallery on the internet or on a stock photo website superimposed over a background of flashing police lights or crime scene tape.
Articles from the site are frequently copied (sometimes even months or years later) by varous fake news websites that omit the satire disclaimer and present the information as real.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes worldnewsdailyreport.com as:
A website that publishes hoaxes and made-up stories that are often widely shared and mistaken for news.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
We wrote about worldnewsdailyreport.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
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- Fake News: Couple Having Sex Outdoors in Bigfoot Costumes NOT Accidentally Shot by Hunters
- Fake News: NO Florida Nursing Home Shut Down by FDA for Feeding Elders With Dog Food
- Fake News: Zoo Keeper NOT Accused of Impregnating Female Orangutan in Indonesia
- Fake News: Elderly Couple Did NOT Burn Down House During Sex Game Involving WW2 Flamethrower
