Is Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Recycled? On February 12 2019, YouTube star Shane Dawson published his second video in his conspiracy series — called, appropriately, “Investigating Conspiracies with Shane Dawson” — and by far the most popular of its three topics was a claim that Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza is “recycled” between customers. (Part two of Dawson’s series can be viewed here.) […]
Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s State of the Union Outfit Cost Thousands of Dollars? In February 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was among a number of Democratic women wearing all white ensembles for the president’s State of the Union address, and the New York congresswoman’s outfit in particular inspired a number of memes. On Facebook, one iteration (and variations) asserted that Ocasio-Cortez’s look was expensive, heavily implying (or even saying […]
Did Australia Fire Its Entire Legislature After a 1975 Government Shutdown? In early February 2019, a Facebook user shared the meme below, which claims that after Australia went through a government shutdown in 1975 its citizens kicked out the entire legislature and started over: Text overlaid on a photograph of what looked like the inside of a legislative building stated: In 1975 Australia had a government […]
American Sign Language for the Word ‘Abortion’? Ongoing debate about a January 22 2019 change to abortion law in New York piqued interest in the topic across social media, reviving an old rumor that a long-circulating GIF sbows the American Sign Language translation of the word “abortion.” On February 7 2019, the Facebook page “For America” shared the clip as a video. Various […]
Did a 38-Year-Old White Active Duty Naval Officer Assault a Black Middle School Student? On January 23 2019, a Facebook user shared what appeared to be a screenshot of an unlinked Facebook post, alleging that a man named Jordan Lee Grinnell assaulted an unnamed black middle school student: Above three images (a handcuffed man sitting on steps, presumably the same man in an unrelated photograph, and what looked to […]
Shocking Video of ‘Abortion Doctor’ Saying He ‘Loves Killing Babies’? On February 7 2019, Facebook user Marcus Rogers shared a video post captioned: “SHOCKING VIDEO of Abortion Doctor GROWLING and Saying He loves Killing Babies. This is just DISGUSTING [emoji] AND YOU KNOW, they don’t want you to see this one! [emoji]: No information about the video, the identity of the individual in the video, […]
Were Modern Caesarean Sections Invented in Africa? On February 6 2019, a Facebook post circulated claiming that “modern c-sections” were invented by midwives in Africa. The post had the hashtag #BlackHistoryMonth, and it said in its entirety: Did you that modern C sections were invented by African women— centuries before they were standard elsewhere? Midwives and surgeons living around Lake Tanganyika and […]
Is This the League of Nazi Women, Who ‘Always Wore White’? On February 5 2019, Facebook user Anna Love shared the following image in a status update, claiming that the photograph shows Nazi Socialist women wearing their customary white attire: In the status update field, Love wrote: The League of Nazi Socialist women who supported Hitler’s dream of a socialist paradise. They always went to public […]
Did a Muslim Principal Ban Crucifixes in a Virginia School? On January 30 2019, Facebook page “The Blacksphere” shared the following meme, purportedly depicting a Virginia principal named Mamasai Mamakusa: The meme was likely outrage-bait which implied that the nonexistent principal’s hijab constituted a form of religious expression, one she supposedly deemed acceptable for herself but not Christian students. Text added to what appeared to […]
Keanu Reeves Steals a Camera? On February 6 2019, the Facebook page “Children of the Night” reposted a popular meme purportedly showing an amusing scene: actor Keanu Reeves fleeing paparazzi after stealing a camera from a photographer: Its caption stated: A photo of Keanu Reeves running away with a camera he took from a Paparazzi guy is currently my favorite photo […]
