Headline Roundup • July 24th, 2024
Jimmy Carter Death Hoax Goes Viral, Fools Many on the Right
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A fabricated letter saying former President Jimmy Carter died made its rounds on social media on Tuesday, fooling many, including a U.S. Senator.
The Details: The letter posed as one from “The Office of Jimmy Carter” and chronicled Carter’s career in a satirical tone.
Letter Contents: The letter described “getting soft on the Soviet Union” and “failing to rescue several hostages from Iran” as some of Carter's “significant foreign policy achievements.” It also included a paragraph describing Carter’s late wife Rosalynn as a “baddie” and making lewd sexual comments about other previous First Ladies.
Notable Spreaders: Those who mistakenly spread the news of Carter’s would-be death included Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and conservative commentator Laura Loomer. X’s (formerly Twitter) trending headlines section, which apparently uses the company’s Grok AI, was also duped by the letter.
How The Media Covered It: The story was covered mostly by more culture-based or tabloid outlets and was not widely covered by the right. Several outlets on the left framed the story through Lee’s endorsement. The Daily Mail (Right bias) described Loomer as “far-right.” Check Your Fact (Center bias) reported that initially The New York Post (Lean Right bias) and Daily Signal (Right bias) spread the news as well.
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a long-serving Republican who was once floated as a potential Supreme Court justice by former President Donald Trump, fell for an obvious online hoax on Tuesday.
On X, Lee posted an image of a fake letter purporting to be from the Office of Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, announcing the ex-president's death.
One look at the letter's contents, however, would have immediately indicated that it was fake.
Getty Images
A letter posted on X claiming former President Jimmy Carter died is fake.
Far-right personality Laura Loomer posted an image of a letter announcing the 99-year-old died on Tuesday and it quickly spread like wildfire on social media.
Even Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) fell for the ruse – along with several media outlets.
But the Carter Center and the former president's doctor confirmed that reports of Carter's death are not true and his status, though poor, remains unchanged.
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 and has now been receiving end of life...
Check Your Fact
An image shared on X claims to show a letter from former President Jimmy Carter’s office announcing his death. The letter is fake, according to the Carter Center. It appears that the original post lists it as a joke. Social media users are posting a letter, claiming that Carter is dead at the age of 99. One user wrote, “Jimmy Carter passed away at 99. Is it just me that thinks this guy died like 10 times already?” This letter is fake. There has been no official announcement on the...
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