#CNNBlackmail Trending After CNN Reports On Reddit User Behind Trump’s Wrestling Tweet

Joseph A. WulfsohnJul 5th, 2017, 7:32 am
 

Late on Tuesday, #CNNBlackmail became the biggest trending hashtag on Twitter after the anonymous Redditor who created the gif of President Trump wrestling the CNN logo issued an apology.

During the holiday, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, published an article called “How CNN Found the Reddit User Behind the Trump Wrestling GIF.” In it, he notes that Reddit user HanAssholeSolo issued an apology “one day after CNN identified the man behind the account and attempted to make contact with him.”

Kacyzenski, a reporter of CNN’s KFile division, went into detail as to how they tracked him down.

“Using identifying information that “HanA**holeSolo” posted on Reddit, KFile was able to determine key biographical details, to find the man’s name using a Facebook search and ultimately corroborate details he had made available on Reddit,” he writes.

These two paragraphs, however, caught the attention of many:

CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

That last line was seen by CNN’s detractors as something akin to “blackmail,”  and the Twitter reaction was strong.

Kaczynski attempted to clarify what many interpreted as blackmail.

#CNNBlackmail outpaced #July4th2017 as the most trending hashtag in the final hours of the holiday.

 

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