Snopes was forced to reverse itself after being roasted for “fact-checking” an image of President Joe Biden wearing a hard hat backwards Friday.
Social media users nailed Biden’s bungled campaign stop with union workers when the president apparently wore a hard hat backwards at a construction site in Superior, Wisconsin.
It’s real. https://t.co/eSOG8BobpS https://t.co/NPPaoldb84 pic.twitter.com/Vyrl7mWcCi
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 27, 2024
Snopes dug themselves a hole attempting to spin Biden’s blue-collar fashion faux pas, initially rating the claim that he wore the construction hat the wrong way as “False.” However, the left-wing fact-checker changed the rating to “True” when it was called out as a political tool.
UPDATE: We bullied Snopes into changing their fact-check. They now admit that Joe Biden wore his hard hat backwards. https://t.co/K29Kfm4QWk pic.twitter.com/xvMgQ0e9LC
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 27, 2024
Snopes added a lengthy Editor’s Note to the webpage, stating the following:
“We received a ton of comments in a very short time challenging our assumption that wearing a hard hat ‘backwards’ means wearing it with the brim facing to the rear, and ‘forwards means wearing it brim to the front. On the basis of that assumption, we originally rated the claim that Biden was wearing a hard hat backwards as false,” Snopes wrote after the update.
"C'mon man!"@snopes you blew this one #BIGLY! As anyone who has ever even touched a hard hat can tell you, @JoeBiden is wearing it #backward! My late father, Don Urban, worked at J&L Steel's #Aliquippa works his entire life (I promise you he knew the difference 😉) #cantfakeit https://t.co/kvzwuAStXB pic.twitter.com/Oi9eFNbKdH
— 🇺🇸 David J. Urban 🇺🇸 (@DavidJUrban) January 27, 2024
Snopes admitted “it’s actually true” that Biden wore the hard hat backwards in the photo-op. The fact-checked fact-checker demonstrated its newfound knowledge that the strap and tightening knob of the hat should have been worn behind Biden’s head rather than on his forehead. (RELATED: Biden Returns To Mic After Pro-Democracy Speech To Add Three Ominous Words)
“A corollary to that argument is ‘Biden looks damn silly in any case,'” Snopes wrote. “We find these arguments sound. Therefore, the claim ‘President Joe Biden wore a hard hat backwards during a photo op with union construction workers in Superior, Wisconsin’ is true, and this fact check has been re-rated as such.”
Social media users poked fun at Snopes after fixing their backwards rating.
“What happened with Snopes today is probably the best ‘How it started vs how it’s going’ of all time,” one user wrote.
What happened with Snopes today is probably the best ‘How it started vs how it’s going’ of all time. pic.twitter.com/2qC04wtdAf
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) January 27, 2024
“Lmao X bullied Snopes into posting the truth,” another person commented.
Lmao 𝕏 bullied @snopes into posting the truth https://t.co/Ih3RrhaE4m pic.twitter.com/R6dZSekdC5
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 27, 2024
“Facts were checked, but not by @snopes,” a third user wrote.
Facts were checked, but not by @snopes https://t.co/EXifZl0Q1E
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) January 27, 2024
This is not the first time Snopes issued a retraction after public backlash. The fact-check website created the designation “labeled satire” following its feud with conservative satire outlet The Babylon Bee.