‘Seriously?’ CNN’s Amanpour Falls for Fake Tea Party Congressional Twitter Account

Just because someone looks like a United States congressman on Twitter, doesn’t always mean that person is one. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour learned that lesson the hard way Thursday when she lent credibility to “Rep. Steven Smith” of Georgia’s 15th congressional district by retweeting his response to her promo about interviewing German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

The only problem is that is there is no Rep. Steven Smith, let alone a 15th district in Georgia. Instead, it appears that someone created the fake “Tea Party Patriot” account within the last 24 hours and started trying to provoke people like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Amanpour appears to have been the first to fall for the trick.

Rep. Smith’s most effective move was probably gaining more than 5,600 followers, which, if you look at the preponderance of foreign names, were most likely purchased for a fee. As for the photo used on the account, a quick image search reveals that it’s no more than a stock photo for a big and tall apparel shop based in New Hampshire.

Since Amanpour retweeted the account at 2:50pm ET, many more people, who also did not bother to check whether Smith is real, are coming out of the woodwork to condemn the non-existent congressman’s ignorant remark.

[images via Twitter]

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