Fake CNN article on COVID-19 victim’s ‘last words’
The claim: CNN published an article on a vaccinated COVID-19 victim who blamed unvaccinated people
A fabricated CNN article about a vaccinated COVID-19 victim has spread from a meme website to mainstream social media platforms.
An Aug. 26 Instagram post shows a screenshot of the purported article from CNN. The image shows the network’s logo, as well as a photo of a woman in a hospital bed.
“Healthy 40-year Old COVID Victim’s Last Words: ‘I blame the unvaccinated for this,'” reads the headline.
The post accumulated more than 2,200 likes in two days, and similar versions have been circulating on Facebook and Twitter. Some social media users questioned whether the story was real, though.
“Is this satire?” one commenter wrote.
It is.
The CNN article is fabricated. It was posted on a platform specifically designed for memes.
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USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment.
Article originated as satire
The fake CNN article presented in the social media posts first appeared on iFunny, a platform where users share memes, GIFs and videos.
The fake article identifies the woman in the photo as Sheila Johnson. The text says Johnson had received the Pfizer vaccine, but she died after her neighbor refused to get vaccinated.
In fact, the woman pictured in the post is Cindy Vela from the reality show “My 600-lb Life.” And the headline has not been published on CNN’s website.
The original iFunny post was intended to be satirical, but comments on Facebook and Instagram indicate some users didn’t take it that way.
The claim is an example of “stolen satire,” where made-up claims published and labeled as satire are captured via screenshot and reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
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USA TODAY reached out to CNN for comment.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that CNN published an article on a vaccinated COVID-19 victim who blamed the unvaccinated. The article is fabricated. It originated on a platform that’s designed for sharing memes.
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