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While everyone is worried about the rise of fake news taking over their social media feeds, one rather hilarious and purposely false report regarding President Donald Trump’s TV viewing habits went viral. A tweet with over 25,000 shares about President Trump’s love of a Gorilla Channel was pure parody, but many were completely fooled by the fake news.
Ben Ward AKA the mastermind behind the massively popular Twitter account @pixelatedboat, which made the Milkshake Duck meme famous in 2017, posted a fake excerpt from Fire and Fury, a newly-released book about the Trump administration. The faux passage reported that the President has an immense fascination about gorillas. Who among us doesn’t? President Trump’s adoration of primates is so intense that he watches something called “The Gorilla Channel.” When Trump moved into the White House, he noticed that there was no Gorilla Channel on his TV, so White House staff made an improvised Gorilla Channel for the President.
Wow, this extract from Wolff’s book is a shocking insight into Trump’s mind: pic.twitter.com/1ZecclggSa
— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018
Many believed that the obvious fake report was actual news including New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo who has over 168,000 followers on Twitter, internet personality Eric Garland who has nearly 175,000 followers, and author Shadi Hamin who has over 111,000 followers.
https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/949343808298278913
Why did you delete this tweet, @ericgarland? pic.twitter.com/WKV29Atztv
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) January 5, 2018
lmao wait shadi falling for gorilla channel is way better than eric pic.twitter.com/3DETcHdkTs
— Christopher Hooks (@cd_hooks) January 6, 2018
So many were fooled by the obvious hoax that Snopes was forced to debunk the excerpt as a fake story. By Friday morning, @pixelatedboat changed his Twitter username to “the gorilla channel thing is a joke” to clarify what was evidently parody.
Wonder if this new display name will help. Probably not.
— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018
Those who got the joke, joked about the joke, and we all laughed at the jokes.
please stop calling our customer service hotline to ask if we have The Gorilla Channel
— Netflix (@netflix) January 6, 2018
— Tatered (@tatered) January 5, 2018
I stopped watching The Gorilla Channel because of how it covered the Harambe incident. People watch The Gorilla Channel to see gorillas fight each other, not for political commentary.
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) January 5, 2018
┏┓
┃┃╱╲ in
┃╱╱╲╲ this
╱╱╭╮╲╲house
▔▏┗┛▕▔ we
╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲
watch the gorilla channel and the gorilla channel only
╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲
▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔— gabe bergado (@gabebergado) January 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/topherchris/status/949343697631694852
Meanwhile, on the Planet of the Apes, President Harambe takes to twitter to deny ever watching a so-called "Trump channel."
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) January 5, 2018
I don't know if Trump will be gone by the end of the year but I 100% do know we will have a Gorilla Channel.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/zeldawilliams/status/949420209756082178
What makes for a Gorilla Channel? A lot of eating, sleeping, and, of course, playtime! pic.twitter.com/cnXOSSY07z
— Animal Planet (@AnimalPlanet) January 5, 2018
Suddenly, everyone wanted an actual Gorilla Channel.
For what it’s worth, I’d watch a Gorilla Channel.
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) January 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/HealthUntoDeath/status/949360116872155137
Vice took it upon themselves to give the world a Gorilla Channel or sorts.
We just made the fake Trump Gorilla Channel a reality. Go bananas watching it here. https://t.co/0fokgdkUri
— VICE News (@VICENews) January 5, 2018
When do we actually get a real Gorilla Channel?