No, A George Orwell Statue Isn’t Being Removed For Offending Journalists
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Thousands of social media users fell for a parody story claiming that a statue of Nineteen Eighty-Four author George Orwell would be removed from outside of the BBC HQ after it made journalists feel “uncomfortable.”
The fake screenshot of a fictional Guardian report was posted and retweeted by thousands of users on Twitter, who shared the joke believing the news to be real.
RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway apologized for sharing the parody, tweeting, “I just deleted the last tweet about taking down the Orwell statue because apparently it was photoshop hoax. So sorry.”
“But it was awfully believable, following weeks of BLM protesters defacing abolitionist statues and ‘anti-fascists’ desecrating Churchill statues,” he added.
I just deleted the last tweet about taking down the Orwell statue because apparently it was photoshop hoax. So sorry.
But it was awfully believable, following weeks of BLM protesters defacing abolitionist statues and “anti-fascists” desecrating Churchill statues.
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) June 15, 2020
I removed my previous tweet about this after discovering it was a parody. In my own defense, how tf is it possible to tellhttps://t.co/guR9cBba7O
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) June 15, 2020
And they looked from pig to man, and then man to pig, and back to pig to man again…and they couldn’t tell the difference. https://t.co/wOrPck1PMs
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) June 15, 2020
#DefundTheBBC Fire everyone. Salt the earth. https://t.co/UJ22eaZxUG
— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) June 15, 2020
Others attempted to spread the word that the “news” was just a joke.
Nearly 2,000 retweets, but please realize: this is fake. Do not reward people who fake shit up without acknowledging (even in a winking manner) that it’s a joke. This is just misinformation. https://t.co/a9g4GmW7v4
— Jeff B, fightin’ the COVID one bootleg at a time (@EsotericCD) June 15, 2020
Folks, this is not real https://t.co/hyckLIgTYl
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) June 15, 2020
It is not. This was posted as a joke. https://t.co/1gytqIKsQ1
— Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) June 15, 2020
The parody story is just the latest piece of fake news that has gone viral on social media over the past six months.
Last month, a photo which falsely claimed to show police officer Derek Chauvin — who was recorded kneeling on George Floyd’s neck — wearing a Make America Great Again hat was shared by a number of high profile users.
In April, news outlets, politicians, and media figures — including Fox News contributor and former DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile — also fell for a fake report which claimed Colin Kaepernick had been signed to the New York Jets, while in March, a number of journalists shared a fake report claiming Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe had tested positive for the coronavirus.
In January, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) posted a fake photograph of former President Barack Obama with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and in December, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson condemned President Donald Trump for pardoning the late cult leader Charles Manson — something which never happened.
