A Washington Post reporter fell for a literal fake news website in a recently published article, citing Clickhole, a well-known spoof website, as fact.
In an article titled, “In honor of Trump visit, Brits launch campaign to lift ‘American Idiot’ to top of the charts,” reporter Meagan Flynn cited an article on Clickhole, purportedly written by Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong, revealing that the hit song “American Idiot” was about former President George W. Bush.
this fuck-up is so pure it makes me weep pic.twitter.com/JOHHioqIAF
— Jon Hanrahan (@hanrahanrahanra) July 10, 2018
The Clickhole article was an obvious joke. In fact, the entire website is a spoof, as they admit themselves.
The post was later updated with an editor’s note:
“Editor’s note: A previous version of this report included information about the meaning of “American Idiot” that was attributed to a Clickhole.com article. Clickhole.com is a satire site. The information has been removed from the story.”