Tag: hoax

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Woman Who Mocked COVID-19 Dies From Virus Two Weeks Later

The first confirmed case of the omicron variant in the U.S. has been discovered in California.

A Texas woman who mocked the ongoing COVID-19 health threat as a “hoax” on social media has died of the virus. As Twitter user @sunnmcheaux posted, on March 14th Karen Kolb Sehlke shared a lengthy coronavirus “hoax” rant on her Facebook. On April 2, her family launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her medical and funeral costs. The third tweet below carries a Facebook post that has been attributed to a friend of the deceased, but I haven’t been able to confirm that.

The same Twitter user noted that initially, the GoFundMe listed the cause of death as COVID-19. The campaign has since been edited to now say cause of death unknown. The campaign raised more than $35,000 before the family stopped further donations. The Facebook rant has reportedly been removed as well. I agree with Sunn m’Cheaux that the point of highlighting this story isn’t to mock the woman’s death but to understand the ongoing risks and widespread effects of the disease. (h/t JoeMyGod)

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Jussie Smollett Indicted On New Charges Over Alleged Hoax Attack

One of the 'attackers' in the Jussie Smollett mess told a court room today he thought Smollett could help his "acting career"

Jussie Smollett (screen capture via ABC News)
Former Empire star Jussie Smollett has been indicted (again) on charges relating to an alleged racist and homophobic attack he reported to the police in January 2019. According to FOX 32 News, Smollett has been indicted by special prosecutor Dan Webb on six charges. To refresh your memory, here’s a timeline of the ongoing twisted tale: January 22, 2019 – Smollett told police he received a threatening letter at the studios where Empire filmed. January 29, 2019 – Smollett reports the alleged racist/homophobic attack claiming it happened near his Chicago apartment. January 30, 2019 – Police release a photo of two ‘persons of interest’ in the incident. February 14, 2019 – The two ‘persons of interest’ were arrested at O’Hare Airport as they returned from a trip to Nigeria. February 16, 2019 – Identified as brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo, the arrested men say they are ‘eager’ to speak to Smollett.
Abel and Ola Osundairo (image via the Osundairo’s since-deleted Instagram account)
February 17, 2019 – The brothers tell the police Smollett paid them to stage the ‘attack.’ They say Smollett felt the threatening letter he’d received didn’t get enough attention. February 21, 2019 – Smollett turned himself in to the authorities facing 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for lying to police about the alleged attack. March 14, 2019 – Smollett appears in court and pleads ‘not guilty.’ March 26, 2019 – All charges against Smollett were abruptly dropped. At the time, a spokesman for the Cook County prosecutor’s office said the decision to dismiss charges came “after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case.” Additionally, Smollett agreed to let the city retain his $10,000 bail. April 24, 2019 – Osundairo brothers file a defamation lawsuit against Smollett’s lawyers. June 21, 2019 – Webb was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s decision to drop all charges. A few weeks later, Smollett tried to have the appointment overturned. To date, Smollett has maintained his innocence telling reporters at the time, “I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I was being accused of.”
Jussie Smollett (mugshot)
Stay tuned as this story continues to develop. (source: Fox News 32)

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Are These Two ‘Queer Eye’ Celebs Dating?

Two stars of Netflix's 'Queer Eye' pulled an April Fool's Day-in-July Instagram hoax
Queer Eye stars Jonathan Van Ness & Antoni Porowski (via Instagram)

Fans of the Netflix ‘make better’ series, Queer Eye, had a social media meltdown when two of the show’s stars, avocado-loving foodie Antoni Porowski and mustachioed grooming guy Jonathan Van Ness, posted a photo on Antoni’s Instagram account of the two just about to engage in a hot and heavy make-out session.

Accompanying the photo was the caption, “I guess Amurica’s birthday’s our anniversary, babe,” complete with heart emoji.

Aw….

Over 700,000 fans ‘liked’ the post and 1,100+ commented with an array of rainbow and heart emojis.

One fan offered to be the flower girl at the boys’ wedding.

Another penned a voyeuristic, “I would watch.”

Some commenters, though, warned that if the July 4 announcement was not on the up-and-up, they would be done with the duo.

Wrote one fan, “If this is fake, I’m literally never French tucking again.”

Well,…

Today, Van Ness fessed up, taking to HIS Instagram to calm fans down, saying, “It was all Antoni’s idea [pride flag emoji], but maybe someday we will fall in love.”

He added a hashtag that read, “not a couple but it was fun right”

Fellow Queer Eye cast mate, Bobby Berk commented, “How much do I have to beg you to keep the jvntoni account up and running just for the content?”

Berk added, “Made the news and everything – that’s when you know you’re ICONS!”

In truth, it appears this is how the two jokers spent their July 4th holidays:

A post shared by Antoni Porowski (@antoni) on Jul 5, 2019 at 7:20am PDT

Happy Bday America 🏳️‍🌈 One of the things that makes me proudest to be American is the ability to openly dissent. To speak negatively of your government in many countries isn’t permitted, I’m grateful here that we are able to call things the way we see them. That being said, trans women of color are being killed by guns, queer lives are being taken by guns, all Americans lives have been effected by gun violence. The house passed a bipartisan gun violence bill to help close the loopholes in the background check system in gun purchases, it won’t get a vote because of @senatemajldr – it is supported by over 90% of Americans & 75% within the NRA. Or the #equalityact which also enjoys overwhelming public support which we desperately need passed to ensure equal rights for people despite sexual orientation or gender expressions at a federal level. What makes America great is our diversity, our ability to speak TRUTH to power, and our ability to VOTE. Use today to connect with people you care about to see what matters to them about what we want to see happen here in the United States. Do we want a senate that won’t even vote on bills passed by the house? Do we want leaders who openly defy the constitution, engage in subvert and overt racism or do we want fairness and equality? Do we want to sanction police brutality or do we want to feel safe around law enforcement? I want an America that is more fair, more united, and allows the opportunities that I’ve been able to have for all. To achieve change we have to talk to each other, let’s celebrate today but keep on speaking your truth to power. 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸🇺🇸
A post shared by Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) on Jul 4, 2019 at 7:06am PDT

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Podcast: Trolls Bungle Fake Buttigieg Smear, Mormon Valedictorian Comes Out At Graduation; 2019 Tony Award Nominations

In this week's podcast: • GOP trolls attempt to smear Mayor Pete Buttigieg • A valedictorian at Brigham Young University comes out during his graduation speech • The president of Brazil told gays not to come to his country • Disney cancelled its award-winning LGBTQ-inclusive series Andi Mack • The 2019 Tony Awards nominations are out including a Special Tony Award for Judith Light for her LGBTQ advocacy All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast.

In this week’s podcast:

• GOP trolls attempt to smear Mayor Pete Buttigieg

• A valedictorian at Brigham Young University comes out during his graduation speech

• The president of Brazil told gays not to come to his country

• Disney cancelled its award-winning LGBTQ-inclusive series Andi Mack

• The 2019 Tony Awards nominations are out including a Special Tony Award for Judith Light for her LGBTQ advocacy

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast.

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The Daily Beast: Two Inept Fools Fail In Alleged Scam To Frame Mayor Pete

Jacob Wohl (L), Jack Burkman (R)

Yesterday I reported on some shady shenanigans by Republican operatives who attempted to smear Democratic presidential contender Mayor Pete Buttigieg by alleging false accusations of sexual assault.

The allegations were made in the name of Hunter Kelly, a Michigan college student, but more details have come to light about the right-wing trolls who plotted the scheme.

Kelly tells The Daily Beast that he had been communicating with known hoax-ster Jacob Wohl for several weeks. But last week, Wohl invited Kelly to the home of Jack Burkman in Baltimore to discuss gathering dirt on Mayor Pete as part of a “task force” set up by the Trump administration.

Wohl and partner Jack Burkman apparently paid for Kelly’s ticket to Baltimore and the duo picked him up shortly after midnight.

According to a statement posted on his Facebook, Kelly says the two revealed a “draft” of an article that was to be posted on Medium accusing Buttigieg of sexually assaulting Kelly. Kelly says he wasn’t feeling comfortable about the idea, but Wohl told him to sleep on it as they had talked until about 4am.

(statement via Hunter Kelly’s Facebook – click image to enlarge)

But when Kelly awoke the next morning, Wohl allegedly informed the Michigan college student that the article had already been posted in Kelly’s name. Burkman apparently told Kelly that he was a “star” and people were “eating” him up.

After a lunch of Subway sandwiches, Kelly writes that he was feeling regretful about the lie, but was told with the article already posted “turning back on what had been published would look bad.”

Kelly asserts that Burkman promised to buy him “any house I wanted” to stay involved with the scam. It was during those discussions that Kelly says he was pressured into signing a ‘script’ about the fake sexual assault which was to have taken place in February at “the fancy Mayflower Hotel” in D.C.

Kelly’s statement goes on to say he spent the next hours dodging “hate mail and reporters left and right while getting dozens of texts from friends and family asking why the media was contacting them.”

He eventually ‘escaped’ from Burkman’s home by faking a nap, and calling his family to come pick him up. When he was informed his family had arrived, Kelly says he rushed downstairs and left saying he couldn’t take part in the scheme because “that is not the type of person I am.”

Kelly says Wohl posted more fake tweets on an account Wohl and Burkman had created where Kelly appeared distraught.

This isn’t Burkman and Wohl’s first trip to the fake scandal rodeo.

Last year, the duo were accused of planning a busted scheme where they tried to pay a woman large sums of money to falsely accuse Special Counsel Robert Mueller of sexually harassing her in the 1970’s in an effort to discredit Mueller. That little escapade didn’t go any better than this.

Additionally, The Daily Beast reports a second man has come forward saying Burkman & Wohl approached him about a similar scheme. He says he not only met with the two, but recorded the conversation. The Daily Beastconfirms they’ve heard the recording.

Kelly says he traveled to meet with the conservative provocateurs with the intention of “seeing what LEGITIMATE dirt we could get on Buttigieg.”

In his statement, he says he was never in D.C. in February; never met Buttigieg; and never been a victim of sexual assault.

“Jack Burkman may have promised me a lavish lifestyle, but at a price that would cost me the two most important things to me: honesty and integrity,” writes Kelly. “Had I gone forward with this despicable scheme they concocted, I would have lost both of those things and became another one of their useless pawns.”

Kelly also calls Wohl and Burkman “the real danger to our country.”

In response, Burkman alleges that it was Kelly who reached out to him to meet.

Burkman posted a copy of the signed ‘script’ along with a photo of Kelly holding his ID with the caption, “1. Very first thing Hunter Kelly did is sign a statement attesting to his accusation 2. He was in full control of all public disclosures, even taking a selfie with his ID to confirm his identity to @MediumSupport MSM bullied him & his family into submission”

Burkman has also tweeted calling Kelly his “former client” who was “pressured out of telling his truth.”

The Twitterverse was not impressed:

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Michigan Man Accuses, Then Denies Accusing, Candidate Of Sexual Assault

Jacob Wohl

UPDATE: As many suspected, Republican losers operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman may have been behind the hoax.

From The Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast reached out to Kelly on a cell phone listed to him in the student directory at his Michigan college. Told we were reporting on apparent efforts by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to drum up false sexual assault allegations against Buttigieg, Kelly replied, “I was unaware this was happening. But yes it is true.”

Kelly wrote that he did not control the newly-created Medium and Twitter accounts that posted the allegations under his name. When asked if he could verify his identity, he texted the Daily Beast a selfie that matched the photo seen on Medium and on Kelly’s longstanding Facebook accounts.

“Here is a selfie of me, sorry I have been crying,” he wrote. “Today and the promises made didn’t go as planned.”

**************************************

So, not sure of the details at this point, but some seriously uncouth shenanigans were plied today against Democratic presidential candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Someone using the name “Hunter Kelly” supposedly penned a letter on Medium (where anyone can post) that he was allegedly assaulted by Mayor Pete.

I was loath to give the piece any oxygen, but since no one believed it, including Republicans, I was asked to write it up for Instinct Magazine. I did making sure everyone understood folks knew it was completely shady.

Just an hour or so later, the guy – “Hunter Kelly” – posted on his Facebook:

I WAS NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED
It’s important for everyone to know that I was not sexually assaulted and would never falsely accuse anyone.
To keep it brief for now- I was approached by a political figure to come to DC to discuss political situations from the standpoint of a gay Republican. When I arrived they discussed Peter Buttigieg and started talking about how they would be working a campaign against him.
I went to bed and woke up to a fake Twitter @RealHunterKelly and an article that I in no way endorsed or wrote.
I have since left and am working on a formal statement to give to everyone including the Buttigieg family.
Thank you for standing behind me and knowing that I would never accept or allow any of this.

#shady

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Chicago Is Suing Jussie Smollett For $130K Investigation

Just when we thought the whole Jussie Smollett debacle was done and done, the city of Chicago has announced it may file a lawsuit in an attempt to recoup expenses for the cost of investigating his alleged late-night attack.
Jussie Smollett

Just when we thought the whole Jussie Smollett debacle was done and done, the city of Chicago has announced it may file a lawsuit in an attempt to recoup expenses for the cost of investigating his alleged late-night attack.

In late January, Smollett filed a police report alleging he was assaulted by two masked men who beat him, poured an unknown liquid over his head and put a noose around his neck – all while reportedly shouting homophobic and racist slurs.

As reported here on The Randy Report, the investigation eventually turned to Smollett, and he was charged with 16 counts of filing a false police report.

Last week, the charges were abruptly dropped.

Two days later, the city sent the Empire actor a bill for $130,000 for expenses related to the police investigation.

Smollett apparently has no interest in paying the bill.

Via Variety:

“Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on Jan. 29, 2019,” the city said. “The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County… The Law Department will file the suit in the near future. As part of this legal action, the Law Department will pursue the full measure of damages allowed under the ordinance.”

Smollett maintains he is innocent.

“It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie an apology — for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud,” his lawyer has previously told the press. “Jussie has paid enough.”

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Twitter Thought Designer Tom Ford Trolled Melania Trump

Twitter lost its mind this morning when a quote attributed to fashion designer Tom Ford began to circulate wherein he reportedly referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “glorified escort.” Slow your roll, Twitter - Tom Terrific never threw that shade.
Tom Ford and First Lady Melania Trump

Twitter lost its mind this morning when a quote attributed to fashion designer Tom Ford began to circulate wherein he reportedly referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “glorified escort.”

Slow your roll, Twitter – Tom Terrific never threw that shade.

The quote that went viral was in reference to the designer refusing to dress the First Lady.

“I have no interest in dressing a glorified escort who steals speeches and has bad taste in men,” is how the quote read, but, no source was attributed.

The comment was probably somewhat believable in that Ford did say during a November 2016 appearance on The View that he had ‘declined’ to dress her some years before explaining, “She’s not necessarily my image.”

He went on to add that he felt his clothes were “too expensive” for a First Lady as he believed the wife of a president has to “relate to everybody.”

But no – Tom didn’t call Melania a “glorified escort.”

But ’Tom Ford’ was trending on Twitter anyway with Trump supporters calling for a boycott of all things Tom Ford.

And that’s where it got pretty funny.

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Chicago: Jussie Smollett Enters ‘Not Guilty’ Plea To 16 Felony Counts

Actor Jussie Smollett appeared in a Chicago courtroom Thursday morning to officially plead ‘not guilty’ to 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct.
Jussie Smollett pleaded ‘not guilty’ in Chicago today

Actor Jussie Smollett appeared in a Chicago courtroom Thursday morning to officially plead ‘not guilty’ to 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct.

The charges stem from his claim that on January 29, during a late-night food run, he was assaulted by two men who physically beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured an unidentified liquid on his head. Smollett alleges his assailants used homophobic and racist slurs during the attack.

The Chicago Police Department were able to track down the two men – brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo – via surveillance cameras. The two men told police they were paid by Smollett to stage the incident in an effort by Smollett to increase his salary on Empire.

On March 9, a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for filing false police reports.

Since the scandal has escalated and charges were filed against him, the TV show has written Smollett’s character out of the remaining episodes this season.

His attorney, Tina Glandian, entered the plea during the brief hearing at Leighton Criminal Courthouse, according to Chicago’s local CBS2 News.

Following the plea, Cook County Judge Steven Watkins ruled that Smollett may travel to California and New York for consultations with his lawyers as long he provides the court with 48 hours notice.

Otherwise, the 36-year-old will not be allowed to leave the state of Illinois without prior permission from the court.

The presiding Criminal Court Judge allowed cameras in the courtroom today, but Judge Watkins will have the final say as to whether future hearings will be open to media cameras.

Smollett has indicated through his lawyers that he wants the cameras in the court as a balance to what he says are ‘misinformation’ leaks. His attorneys say they want the public to see evidence as it is presented in court.

During a recent appearance on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Smollett’s defense attorney Mark Geragos claimed the Empire star has been the victim of a ‘media gang bang.’

“What is happening here is, frankly, a media gang bang of this guy of unprecedented proportions,” said the celebrity lawyer who has previously represented Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Scott Peterson.

He added later, “I defy anybody to find any indictment anywhere where somebody has brought 16 counts for being a victim of a hate crime.”

Smollett’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 17. Watch Geragos’s ‘gang bang’ appearance on CNN below.