Fake News: Satanic Pentagram Was NOT On Democratic Debate Stage Ceiling

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke

STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Fake News: Satanic Pentagram Was NOT On Democratic Debate Stage Ceiling

Was a satanic pentagram displayed on the ceiling above the stage of the Democratic presidential debate stage in Westerville, Ohio? No, that's not true: A purported photo showing the pentagram above the Democratic candidates was digitally altered. It was not seen during the CNN telecast or on other images from the debate.

The fake image and false claim originated in a tweet (archived here) posted by InfoWars editor Adan Salaza hours after the October 15, 2019 debate. The message above the photo of the debate stage read:

Didn't see any American flags during #CNN #DemDebate, but i did catch another symbol... ๐Ÿ‘€

This is what social media users saw:

Salazar was correct that the stage, which was controlled by CNN, was not lined with American flag, but it was quickly pointed out that Salazar's image was faked:

Still, some people fell for the hoax and shared it:

Here is the faked photo:

dem debate stage fake.jpg

Here is what the stage really looked like:

Dem debate stage 101519.png

One of the Twitter users shown above -- @RealPamelaAnne -- later posted that she discovered the image was faked.

We wrote about twitter.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

Updates:

  • 2019-10-17T17:28:38Z 2019-10-17T17:28:38Z
    Update 12:20pPT Oct 17, 2019 - Twitter user @RealPamelaAnne admits image is faked.

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  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

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