Many of you might be aware of the existence of humorous satirical news websites such as The Onion and Clickhole, which choose to amuse (and in many cases decieve) the masses by posting articles that look like real news stories. We’re guessing a good percentage of collegiettes have faced the humiliation of being bamboozled by one of these trick stories. But as we found out earlier this week, even the most accredited and professional celebrities can be had by this hoax.
On Monday, celebrity journalist Anderson Cooper tweeted a slightly miffed reaction to a story which had been published on Clickhole. The article quotes Cooper as saying at a 2015 New York University commencement address, “Graduation is a big deal—bigger than getting a hole-in-one while golfing. People might think you’re lying about the hole-in-one, but when you graduate, you get a diploma.” Perhaps the banal and absurd nature of this quote should have tipped Cooper off that this website probably wasn’t a trusted source, but nonetheless Cooper went on to tweet:
Ummm… @Clickhole, do u make this stuff up? I never said this quote and never spoke to the NYU class of 2015. https://t.co/oRSDgpQXxx
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 18, 2015
After several replies by his followers gently informing Cooper that Clickhole was not a legitimate news outlet, Cooper tweeted his admission of guilt:
Probably should have looked at what @Clickhole is. Wah, wah.
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 18, 2015
While you might be giggling at Cooper’s goof, he did have a valid reason to be confused. Websites like The Onion and Clickhole are specifically designed to look just like a typical professional news site. While most of the articles may seem right off the bat to be completely ridiculous (and yes these are ACTUAL stories from The Onion):
- Child Unaware Just How Many Of His Toys Intended To Steer Him Away From Homosexuality
- Self-Deprecating Man Just Scratching Surface Of How Pathetic He Actually Is
- Wedding Guest Blissfully Unaware She Barely Made The Cut
Others are crafty enough to seem actually plausible:
- Hillary Clinton Campaign Shuts Down After Blowing Through $2 Billion In First Month
- Urban Polling Centers Recommend Voters Start Lining Up Now For 2016 Election
- Roger Goodell Vows To Punish Whoever Responsible For Suspending Tom Brady
And some of these stories even have headlines based in reality, like this article about how the Cannes film festival banned women from wearing flats, or this article about the closing of famous NYC toy store FAO Schwartz. It’s only after you read the full article that you realize the reporting is a farce.
Plus, Anderson Cooper is not the only a-list celebrity to have been gagged by satirical news sites. From actors to governors to The New York Times, no one is immune from a good Onion hoodwink (see Huffington Post‘s list of notorious scams!).
If you want to test your skills at weeding out the satires, check out the weekly New York Times news quiz to see if you can guess which stories are real and which are not. Best of luck!