WSU Coach Mike Leach tweets fake news about President Obama
Jun 19, 2018, 10:30 AM | Updated: 11:21 am
WSU football coach Mike Leach. (AP)
(AP)
A lot of people fall victim to fake news, but not everybody does so publicly. That’s what happened to Washington State University Football Coach Mike Leach Sunday night.
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“This is bad,” John Curley snickered. “This is the problem, when you get a lot of downtime as a coach — you need to get back out on the field and have someone drop and give you 20.”
“Leach fell for it,” he said. “And he sent it out on Twitter, like ‘Hey, check this out. Thoughts?”
Leach tweeted a video Sunday evening featuring President Obama making a speech during his term. In the video, Obama stated that ordinary people are too small minded to govern themselves; that an international order has been built over generations; and that people need to give over their individual rights to this all powerful sovereign.
Of course, it was all fake. Obama never said these things. Rather, a March 16, 2014 speech was selectively edited so the president’s words stated the exact opposite of the sentiment he actually delivered. It was originally much less in the conspiratorial vein, and was an address to European youth about the ideals of free will and democracy.
Leach’s original tweet featuring the fake news has since been deleted. It stated: “Listen to this. Text your thoughts. There is a lot of disagreement on government, so I think that an open discussion is always in order. Tweet your thoughts. Maybe we can all learn something.”
“I understand. He was easily duped. A lot of people are duped,” co-host Tom Tangney said.
The fake video is still up on YouTube, which you can see here.
Curley said the proper way to handle such a situation — when you spread fake news online — is to admit it and counter it with the correct information. That’s what Leach did on Monday.
The coach has replaced the first Tweet with a follow up featuring the actual speech President Obama made. But Leach sticks by his statement, urging a discussion on government power.
This is the complete speech. I agree that the video was incomplete. However, I believe discussion on how much or how little power that our Gov should have is important……Remarks by the President in Address to European Youth: https://t.co/BnNzxyivyN
— Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) June 18, 2018
The Obama video that Leach originally tweeted was more than “incomplete,” however. It was deliberately crafted to deliver false information. Essentially, a classic example of fake news.
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