Did CNN publish an article calling the "Chill Guy" meme a "figurehead of racist right wingers"? No, that's not true: A screenshot of a real article from 2019 was edited to make it look like it was about the meme. A fake headline and a new opening paragraph was added, and the date on the article was changed to 2024. An archived version of the original article from 2019 shows it had nothing to do with the "Chill Guy" meme.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on November 26, 2024, under the on-screen title "These are the new symbols of hate." The post's caption said:
He's just a chill guy and they hate him for it
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Nov 27 19:57:46 2024 UTC)
The post provided no evidence to support its assertion that CNN called "Chill Guy" a right-wing figurehead, other than a fake version of the story from the CNN website.
Original vs. fabricated
The original version of the CNN story (archived here) was published on September 28, 2019 (circled in yellow below, on the left). In the fake version, the publishing date has been changed to September 28, 2024, five years later (circled in red below, on the right). The images are shown side-by-side for comparison:
(Source: CNN and X screenshots taken on Wed Nov 27 2024 UTC)
Other differences include different images in the story -- a man's tattooed arm in the original and the "Chill Guy" meme in the fabricated one.
The opening paragraphs are also different. In the original, it says:
The swastikas. The bolts. The bastardized crosses. While polite society may want to believe these well-trodden images are anachronisms, the truth is these brands of hate are surprisingly enduring. And, like any other brand, they are also subject to evolution and changing tastes.
The fake version says:
What is the 'Chill Guy' meme, and why is he the new figurehead of racist right wingers? Here's what you need to know:
While the creator of the image labeled it (circled in blue above) "Satire," comments on the social media post showed that hundreds of people took it seriously.
Who is 'Chill Guy'?
A USA Today article (archived here) from November 22, 2024, said this about the popular character:
[Artist] Phillip Banks first posted the anthropomorphic dog to Instagram on Oct. 4, 2023. The on-screen caption on an Instagram Reel reads, 'My new character. His whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a (expletive).'
Here's the original Instagram post:
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about current events can be found here.
