People's Daily, the gift that keeps on giving, did a most glorious thing at 1:39 am today by "publicly condemn[ing]" a parody Twitter account, The Relevant Organs. "We have noticed that a Twitter account has been misleading people by stealing People's Daily 's web address and National emblem of China to make false impression that the account is related to China officials or People's Daily," reads PD's tweeted statement.
An episode of The Colbert Report last Wednesday used the words "ching-chong ding-dong" in an attempt to satirize / skewer Washington dunderhead Dan Synder. When the show's Twitter account tweeted the joke the next day without context -- “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever” -- a bit of hell broke loose on social media, resulting in Korean-American Twitter activist Suey Park starting the hashtag #CancelColbert. It reeked of so much faux outrage and willful ignorance
First, we need to collectively realize -- then get over the fact that -- People's Daily has a Facebook page. Then we can get to this story, first tweeted by Bill Bishop with the question, "People's Daily fall for fake news again?"
Turns out, yes. Very fake.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on... you, I guess. Fool me four times, shame all around. Fool me five times, does your mother know you're doing this? Fool me... I've lost count. Stop fooling me!
Ken Tanaka, one of the directors of the funny skit "What Kind of Asian Are You?," which we featured here last week, has sent us a follow-up that features actors Stella Choe and Scott Beehner reading YouTube comments. If you think you already know how this is going to go, you're more or less correct.
Amulet Mok, you cheeky bastard. If that is your real name!
You ever have that very moment when every single cell of your body was aroused and your body was open for anything?
Oh dear.
As Barack Obama's failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp continues to anger his liberal base, interested observers outside the US are beginning to take their potshots at the reeling POTUS. The Chinese news media, for instance, has decided to lightly prod the American president with a little humor -- not with its own humor, mind you, but with The Daily Show's.
The lovably gullible editors at 21st Century Business Herald must really hate the genre of satire now. Just last month, this Guangzhou-based business weekly, one of the largest in the country, fell for a spoof on the website The Daily Currant claiming that Paul Krugman had gone backrupt. Very recently, they bit the bait again, this time dangled by The Borowitz Report.
If you’re looking for analysis on why China loved Jon Stewart’s digs at Kim Jong-un (above), head over to the Washington Post, where Max Fisher writes: When the popular Chinese Web portal Sina posted an eight-minute segment from the show discussing the latest North Korean provocations, it racked up an astounding 2.8 million views and counting, as... Read more »
Of course Chinese media was going to fall for an April Fools joke. But we expected Beijing News to bite it, or People's Daily, or 21st Century Herald (similarity: they've all been duped before, e.g., here and here). But CCTV, a television channel that, presumably, has researchers, copyeditors, producers and news anchors? That is to say, a terraced newsroom of professionally trained reporters and de factor fact-checkers?
![Hunan Villagers Suspect Chengguan Beat Local Farmer To Death – Part Of Chinese Chengguan’s Bad Week [UPDATE]](http://beijingcream.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Watermelon-peddlers-death-at-hands-of-chengguan-150x150.jpg "Hunan Villagers Suspect Chengguan Beat Local Farmer To Death – Part Of Chinese Chengguan’s Bad Week [UPDATE]")
