A staff writer for left-wing website Mic.com uncritically accepted a prankster’s account of a fictitious racially-charged interaction with a Trump supporter, later spreading the false story on Twitter while dismissing those skeptical of the story’s veracity.
The story begins with a tweet from Mic staff writer Sarah Harvard, requesting stories of Trump-inspired attacks on non-whites, Muslims or LGBTQ people. “If you’re a person of color, Muslim, and/or LGBTQ, and have been attacked by a Trump supporter. DM/email me,” she wrote, providing her email for people to contact her. Harvard promised a “Safe space” for any alleged victims.
That tweet caught the attention of right-of-center YouTuber Matt Christiansen, who decided to test what — if any — scrutiny the journalist would apply to stories of Trump-inspired attacks. Christiansen and a friend cooked up a fictitious story of a white male who threatened a Native-American women because he thought she was Mexican and later justified his rudeness by saying “white is right.”
Using a fake email and the name “Laurel Nelson,” the pranksters emailed Harvard their story with the subject line “aggressive Trump supporter.” The Daily Caller was provided with copies of the email exchanges between Harvard and “Laurel Nelson.”
“I was leaving Starbucks when I got bumped at the door by a trump supporter. I ended spilling latte on myself but he gave me the glare like I did wrong. I said ‘you can at least say sorry’ and he replied ‘just walk away and be lucky that coffee is the only thing of yours that spills. You shouldn’t even be in this country, and you won’t be for long’ [sic]” the non-existent Laurel Nelson said. “He must have thought I was Mexican because I am dark, but I am Native American. I told him so and that we were actually here first. His reply was ‘doesn’t matter. white is right’ and pushed by me [sic].”
Read more at: The Daily Caller