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Conservatives spread hoax image of beaten Trump supporter

Oops.

 

Tess Cagle

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 7, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 3:50 pm CDT

Just like that Abe Lincoln meme claims– you really can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

In response to altercations that broke out at a Trump campaign event in San Jose, California, on June 2, many turned to social media to express their frustration and anger. Popular conservative Twitter and Facebook accounts bandwagoned on the news and shared a photo of an alleged female Trump supporter beaten by “‘peaceful’ and ‘tolerant’ liberals.”

Original Facebook post: 

[Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/mccurdyg/posts/1227688723928191 embed.]

Original tweet: 

(Sorry, this embed was not found.)

The post, which is actually a photo of actress Samara Weaving on set of Ash Vs. Evil Dead, was quickly proven to be false—but not before sparking a wave of anger on the internet. Over 26,000 people shared the post on Facebook, while the original tweet was retweeted over 500 times and received indignant responses.

https://twitter.com/Lolocaustianity/status/739948146583822341

https://twitter.com/woodardjba/status/739971511856009216

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A day after the original post was published on Facebook, users discovered that the “female Trump supporter” was actually the Australian actress on set of the comedy horror show, and not in any way connected to the dispute that broke out at the Trump event in San Jose.

https://twitter.com/isaacwmiller/status/740195339773317120

https://twitter.com/MickyGluck/status/739973539701346304

The original Facebook post was authored by an apparent Trump supporter, Greg McCurdy, who did not respond when the Daily Dot reached out for comment. The Twitter account, @Cons_Nation, also could not be reached for comment. Neither party responded to any other users online. Both posts remain published. 

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*First Published: Jun 7, 2016, 6:54 pm CDT