Fake News: Roseanne NOT Hired As White House Press Secretary

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Roseanne NOT Hired As White House Press Secretary

Was Roseanne Barr hired as White House Press Secretary to replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders? No, that's not true: the story came from a Canadian satirical website, it is not real.

The story originated from an article published on May 29, 2018 by The Beaverton titled "BREAKING: Roseanne hired as White House press secretary" (archived here) which opened:

WASHINGTON D.C. -- After her rebooted sitcom was cancelled by ABC following the star's racist tweets, actress Roseanne Barr has been hired as press secretary for the Trump White House.

The tweets, which referred to former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett as a combination of the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes" were enough for ABC to cancel the popular sitcom within hours. However, they were well-received by Trump officials.

"Tweeting out barely-veiled racism isn't a negative in the Trump White House. It's practically a prerequisite," said senior policy advisor Stephen Miller. "With her blend of fake populism and unhinged conspiracy-mongering, Roseanne is going to fit right in here."

Roseanne will take over for former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who despite being fired is reportedly amazed to have lasted as long as she did. "Suck it, Spicer," Huckabee Sanders shouted, as she handed her podium over to the former TV star.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail and some of the less intelligent ones might even have thought it was real:

BREAKING: Roseanne hired as White House press secretary

WASHINGTON D.C. -- After her rebooted sitcom was cancelled by ABC following the star's racist tweets, actress Roseanne Barr has been hired as press secretary for the Trump White House. The tweets, which referred to former Obama administration adviser Valerie Jarrett as a combination of the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes" were enough ...

The Beaverton is a satirical website that carries following disclaimer:

Site Disclaimer

The Beaverton is a news satire and parody publication . All articles contained within this website, however similar to real events, are fictitious. When public figures are mentioned by name, the corresponding story details are invented. In all other cases, any resemblance to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental.

We wrote about thebeaverton.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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