Liberal media outlet Mediaite reported that former President Trump's false statement that Peanut the Squirrel died at the hands of New York state authorities, which went viral online, is genuine and needs to be corrected.
The site was mistakenly listed in a doctored Truth Social statement made to appear to be from President Trump. The statement was crafted in a way that simulated the former president's condemnation of state governments for euthanizing pets and social media stars while ignoring crimes committed by illegal immigrants. situation.
“We regret the post and have removed it from our platform. The post below has been updated to reflect the situation,” the media outlet said. With correction It was published on Saturday.
Pet squirrel Peanut was taken away from his adopted home by New York state officials and may be euthanized
Peanut the squirrel (also known as Peanut), who had more than 500,000 followers on Instagram, was euthanized by New York state authorities last week. (via Peanut_the_squirrel12 Instagram)
Last week, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) seized Instagram star and pet squirrel Peanut and raccoon Fred from their owner Mark Longo's home and animal sanctuary in rural Pine City, New York. .
Longo and Peanut's more than 550,000 social media followers were horrified when the agency said it had received complaints that wild animals were being kept illegally and euthanized the animals. .
new york post “DEC claims that Peanut, who was known to be very docile, bit the hand of one of its agents when it was seized from Longo's Elmira home on Wednesday,” the report said.
News of Peanuts' demise spread like wildfire on social media, prompting comments from celebrities like X owner Elon Musk.
“'If you defeat me, I'll be more powerful than you can imagine,' Obi Peanut Kenobi,” Musk wrote while sharing a photo of a squirrel dressed as a Star Wars character. “It will be,” he quipped.
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Outlet Mediaite.com was forced to issue a correction last week after falsely ascribing false statements about Peanut's death to the former president. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Amidst the proliferation of internet memes mentioning Peanut's death, a false and untrue social post that appeared to weigh in on the controversy went viral. “New York authorities, under a terrible governor, have gone the extra mile to find criminals,” the fake post said.[sic] It's better to eliminate innocent squirrels in plain sight than to control the unchecked illegal immigration that floods into the state. ”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Levitt told the New York Post on Saturday that the statement was untrue and criticized Mediaites for reporting it straight.
“This is a false statement,” he said, adding, “He didn't actually say that. Mediaite is fake news.”
After realizing the error, the media outlet deleted Trump's fake post and wrote, “Correction: Mediate incorrectly reported on a fake image of a statement attributed to Donald Trump; “We have been reporting on this,” the statement added. Trump has not commented on the story in question, and neither he nor his campaign have issued a statement about it. ”
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The Trump campaign and Mediaite did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
