An article claiming that former United States vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin confused Charlie Hebdo and Charlie Brown is fake.
The article comes from the so-called satirical website The Daily Currant, which publishes articles that blend fact and fiction.
Palin is often the target of such articles, as she has made some relatively outrageous statements in real life.
The fake news article said that Palin appeared on Fox News and “blasted Islamic extremists for killing the cartoonists who draw the Charlie Brown comic strip.”
The article claimed that Palin confused Charlie Brown for Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine which was attacked in Paris by terrorists recently.
The article had a number of fake quotes from Palin, including one that said: “I don’t care if you don’t like Snoopy. That’s no excuse to go around murdering people. I can’t stand Dilbert. And don’t even get me started on The Boondocks. But that doesn’t mean I go round shootin' up the place.”
“I guess maybe because he was always playing football and baseball and celebrating Christmas?” Palin continued, “Maybe it’s just too American for them? I don’t get it.”
The article was circulated widely on social media, garnering 58.7 thousand likes on Facebook.
It fooled many people, including a blogger on Jezebel who railed against Palin for her supposed comments. “This is not about stupidity on her part but feeding racism and phobia of Fox viewers,” the article said. Some readers later alerted the author to how the article was fake.
According to a disclaimer, the Daily Currant “is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide – now including South Sudan.
“Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence – which presses forward.”
The stories posted on the site aren’t real and are “purely fictional,” the disclaimer notes. “However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.”
