Not everyone can pick up on satire and apparently that includes MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
On Monday’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Maddow blasted conservatives for criticizing President Obama’s Egypt policies, the Atlantic Wire reported Tuesday.
Upon attacking Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul and former ambassador to the UN John Bolton, Maddow slammed fictional ChristWire.org writer Stephenson Billings. Maddow was unaware that Billings wasn’t a real person or that Christ Wire is a satirical blog that aims to highlight hyperbolic opinion and rhetoric.
Going “even further into the deep [end],” Maddow giggled as she read excerpts from Billings’ blog entry, which states, “The escalating crisis in Egypt could become a defining moment for Sarah Palin. Governor Palin needs to speak out publicly and forcibly for an American-led invasion to protect our interests in North Africa.”
On Monday evening, Maddow tweeted an acknowledgment that she had erred in citing the satirical Christian forum.
“The bad news about a free and open internet? Sometimes you get had by brilliant satirists. Christwire: 1 TRMS: 0,” Maddow tweeted.
Maddow isn’t the only media figure to have fallen for Christ Wire’s hoax. Last August, Huffington Post writer Katla McGlynn condemned a Christ Wire article for spreading “unfounded and offensive stereotypes about gay men,” although she also wrote, “We’re not sure if this is a satire or not, but from the looks of things no one really knows.”
WATCH: Maddow cites satirical website as real
