Rumors that Fox News published a news story complaining about “they/them summer” have been debunked. The well known conservative news channel has been ingrained in multiple controversies throughout the years to say the least, and in recent months, they’ve been slammed for multiple reasons. Trevor Noah recently roasted Fox for their obsession with Hunter Biden, and viewers also weren’t too pleased when Fox wanted to classify their Christmas tree being burned down as a hate crime. Most concerning, though, is the prevalence of Tucker Carlson, who hosts a political talk show on the news channel and has dangerously pushed the white supremacist replacement theory on audiences, among other things.
Hence, displays of homophobia, xenophobia, or sexism, sadly, aren’t always surprising coming from Fox, and it’s not saying much positive about them that this particular rumor seemed so believable. However, this time, fake news turned out to be the culprit rather than Fox.
Did Fox complain about a ‘they/them summer’?
A screenshot began trending on Twitter that appeared to show a headline from a Fox article published on June 19, 2022. The headline reads, “‘They/Them’ summer: a new far-left extremist plot to undermine American democracy.” The subheading only gets more bizarre, as it claims those with pronouns they/them are more dangerous than “Islamic terrorists”—a pretty pitch-perfect rendition of Fox’s usual bigotry. It wasn’t long before the screenshot started spreading on social media. It claimed to have been written by an actual Fox news reporter, Danielle Wallace.
The rumor was quickly debunked, as viewers can easily find Wallace’s page and find no such article exists within her work, nor on the website as a whole. This alleged article from Fox was not a real article, but an apparent attempt at spoofing a news headline. Twitter user @kamunt made a good point that users need to watermark spoof titles, as the devastating news lately—and Fox’s own reputation—makes it easy for articles such as that one to be taken as true.
The spoof headline, whether it was ever intended to be taken seriously or not, is part of a growing problem of the circulation of fake news. Sadly, as many point out, we have enough difficult news to wrap our heads around without more concerning false stories coming out. Additionally, we’re much better off criticizing Fox News for the many, many very real issues with the network and its reporters, rather than making things up or falling for parody and giving them any room to claim that their critics are the ones being disingenuous and harmful. Fake news is damaging to our ability to discuss those issues in a way that’s taken seriously and is the reason why everyone on the internet should be vigilant and utilize fact checking.
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