Was former first lady Michelle Obama involved in or arrested as a result of a hit-and-run accident? No, that's not true: This claim originated from a satirical website, with the story carrying a site category tag of "Michelle Obama Fan Fiction." It uses the name of a fictitious town. Also, there's been no news coverage that would be inevitable if such an event or such an arrest involving Michelle Obama had taken place.
The claim originated in an article posted on Obamawatcher in November 2021 titled "Michelle Obama Arrested In Hit-And-Run Accident" (archived here), which opened:
The Maserati XJ-2 Is a lot of things. Prime quality automobile. Supreme example of class distinction. Mobile base of operations for a person of stature and preferred elite breeding.
And now, murder weapon?
That seems to be the case for Chicago inmate 31344-2, also known as Michelle Quiznos Obama, who was arrested last night after police caught her using one to flee the scene of a vehicular accident shortly after 2 a.m. The former First Lady and author is being held by authorities without bail at the Queefington Heights police station.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Michelle Obama Arrested In Hit-And-Run Accident
She's being contained without bail at this point.
There is no such town as Queefington Heights, a gag name built on the slang word for vaginal flatulence.
Recent tweets published from Michelle Obama's verified Twitter account regard Election Day and holiday memories, there's no mention of an accident or arrest. A November 1, 2021, Associated Press article also states that she has a live stream scheduled to promote her book "Becoming" on November 9, 2021.
A Google search using the keywords "Michelle Obama arrested in hit and run" did not reveal any news coverage or substantiation to the claim that she was recently arrested for fleeing the scene of a "vehicular accident" either.
The site that published the bogus story is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. He runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact-checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite "thank you" note, which is much appreciated.
More Lead Stories debunks about claims related to the "Obamawatcher" website can be found here.
