In yet another instance of real-life law enforcement taking an internet joke way too seriously, a news report aired in Tulsa, Oklahoma that described internet joke Pedobear, a cartoon bear that is used to make fun of pedophiles, as a real life threat to children. The report is pretty damning, saying the person inside the Pedobear costume “may use candy to lure children closer, close enough to hug and touch your child,” followed by a mother, Kristin Weis, saying “They’re getting stimulated by that one touch. You don’t see it, we don’t know it cause they’re hidden under that costume, but that’s their sexual stimulation.”
What’s even worse is that the initial report by FOX23 claimed a person at the San Diego Comic Con dressed up as Pedobear was a registered sex offender who previously assaulted a child, when really, it was just an attendee at Comic Con, dressing up as an internet joke. At least FOX23 issued a correction on their website sometime later, saying the attendee wasn’t actually a sex offender, but at some point, an Internet nerd could well be wrongly accused of a serious crime if this trend in reporting continues.
(Valleywag via The Daily What)
