Not real news: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Nov 17, 2017, 11:25 AM
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:
NOT REAL: Second Roy Moore Accuser Works For Michelle Obama Right NOW
THE FACTS: The woman named as an accuser of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore in a story by the Last Line of Defense doesn’t work for Michelle Obama. In fact, it’s unclear that she’s a real person. The article claims a woman named Fiona Dourif told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last week that she was groped by Moore in 1957. No one by that named appeared on Maddow’s show. An actress with the same name called out the story on Twitter , saying she has nothing to do with Moore. The story is linked to a photo of former Alabama U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. An Obama family representative tells the AP the claim that the woman worked as a housekeeper for the Obamas is completely false.
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NOT REAL: Trump Abruptly Shuts Down Dogs for Wounded Warriors Program, Leaving Vets High and Dry on Veteran’s Day!
THE FACTS: Officials at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, did issue a stop work order to an animal therapy group contracted with the hospital, but it came on Oct. 27, more than two weeks before Veteran’s Day. The order to the Warrior Canine Project came from hospital officials, not the White House. Hospital spokeswoman Sandy Dean says it’s looking to restructure its animal therapy contracts to improve patient care. She adds that therapy dogs continue to be available for patients at Walter Reed.
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NOT REAL: British Intelligence Seizes Clinton Foundation Warehouse, $400 Million In Cash
THE FACTS: Several websites have posted a story claiming the Clinton Foundation was leasing a British warehouse owned by a man on the U.K.’s terrorist watch list, quoting an unnamed assistant to Chelsea Clinton stating that the facility was “rented through an agency.” Foundation spokesman Brian Cookstra tells the AP the story is “totally false.” He adds: “We don’t rent a warehouse in the UK, the quote from ‘Chelsea Clinton’s assistant’ is made up, and nothing in this story seems to be based in reality.” A photo included with the story is a picture from Britain’s The Sun newspaper that shows unrelated police activity in Kent, England.
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NOT REAL: English actor Ian McKellen dies aged 78
THE FACTS: McKellen is alive and actively working despite a story from a website appearing to mimic Britain’s Daily Mail reporting he died after a lengthy hospitalization for pneumonia. The story first published last year has recirculated in recent days. McKellen has starred in several projects on stage and screen this year alone, including the British sitcom “Vicious.” The show’s Twitter account posted a photo of McKellen and co-star Derek Jacobi Saturday with the note: “In case you were wondering, we’re still alive.”
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NOT REAL: Iceland Mandates Mental Health Warnings On All Bibles
THE FACTS: No warnings are required to be put on Bibles sold in the island nation. A widely-shared hoax story from the website Patheos offers a clue to the joke by naming the prime minister of the country as Andrew Canard. Canard is a seldom used word that means a fabricated report. The actual prime minister of Iceland is Bjarni Benediktsson.
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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
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Find all AP Fact Checks here.
