Michael Wolff’s book on Trump, ‘Fire and Fury’, has made some unusual revelations about the President: from the theory that Trump never wanted or intended to win the election to the idea that he eats McDonalds because he’s terrified of being poisoned. The book makes some astonishing claims to say the least, which is probably why thousands of people were completely taken in by the fake book excerpt which claimed Trump was unhappy with the White House’s lack of TV channels offering 24/7 footage of fighting gorillas.
Last Thursday, Ben Ward, the man behind @pixelatedboat (the parody account who brought the internet Milkshake Duck), tweeted what appeared to be a screenshot of a book excerpt claiming that the White House made a compilation of gorilla videos to play on a loop to cater to Trump’s desire to watch The Gorilla Channel for hours upon hours every day.
‘On his first night in the White House, President Trump complained that the TV in his bedroom was broken because it didn’t have “the gorilla channel”.’
‘To appease Trump, White House staff compiled gorilla documentaries into a makeshift gorilla channel, broadcast into Trump’s bedroom from a hastily-constructed transmission tower on the South Lawn.’
‘“On some days he’ll watch the gorilla channel for 17 hours straight,” an insider told me.’
The fake excerpt went viral immediately, reaching nearly 20,000 retweets in under 24 hours, and setting the internet alight with “gorilla channel” memes.
However, the joke also caused some serious confusion, since many Twitter users initially believed the tweet was a real excerpt from Wolff’s book. Major influencers and members of the media retweeted and commented on the excerpt appearing to believe it was real, further adding to the chaos.
Ward immediately realised his joke was taking on a life of its own, and even changed his Twitter display name to “the gorilla channel thing is a joke”. Snopes, the fact-checking website, also stepped in to the clarify that the post was in fact a hoax.
Yes, a scary number of people fell for the joke and that is pretty worrying, but the fact that so many people believed the utterly outlandish prank probably also says something about the President himself. Are people are so used to being shocked by Trump on a daily basis that a supposed penchant for watching fighting gorillas doesn't seem like a stretch of imagination? Now that's a terrifying thought.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.