People are falling for a made-up excerpt from the bombshell Trump book that involves him watching 'the gorilla channel'

Advertisement
People are falling for a made-up excerpt from the bombshell Trump book that involves him watching 'the gorilla channel'

Advertisement
donald trump

Associated Press/Andrew Harnik

Donald Trump.

  • People are falling for a totally made up story about President Donald Trump spending hours a day watching "the gorilla channel."
  • It's going viral on Twitter.


A tweet from the parody account @pixelatedboat went viral Thursday night with a fabricated excerpt that the user claimed was from Michael Wolff's bombshell new book on the Trump administration, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

In the excerpt, @pixelatedboat wrote that Trump occasionally spends 17 hours per day watching a makeshift "gorilla channel" put together by his aides.

"On his first night in the White House, President Trump complained that the TV in his bedroom was broken because it didn't have 'the gorilla channel,'" the fake excerpt began. "Trump seemed to be under the impression that a TV channel existed that screened nothing but gorilla-based content, 24 hours a day. To appease Trump, White House staff compiled a number of gorilla documentaries into a makeshift gorilla channel, broadcast into Trump's bedroom from a hastily-constructed transmission tower on the South Lawn."

"However, Trump was unhappy with the channel they had created, moaning that it was 'boring' because 'the gorillas aren't fighting,'" the fake excerpt continued. "Staff edited out all the parts of the documentaries where gorillas weren't hitting each other, and at last the president was satisfied. 'On some days he'll watch the gorilla channel for 17 hours straight,' and insider told me. 'He kneels in front of the TV, with his face about four inches from the screen, and says encouraging things to the gorilla, like, 'the way you hit that other gorilla was good.' I think he thinks the gorillas can hear him."

It was entirely fake. And people ate it up.

By Friday afternoon, more than 14,000 people retweeted @pixelatedboat's tweet. The account's previous claim to fame was creating the "milkshake duck" viral meme.

Meanwhile, Wolff's book contained a number of claims that appeared outrageous on the surface. Though Wolff has forcefully stood by the content of his book, it has come under some skepticism from reporters and, much moreso, from the White House.

Even announcing that the tweet was made up and changing his Twitter name to "the gorilla channel thing is a joke" didn't stop some from running with the fabrication.

Even some prominent Twitter users were torn about whether or not it was real, while others full-on went with it.

 

Upon finding out that they had been duped, some lashed out. Others admitted they had been duped.

NOW WATCH: A reporter who met with the former spy behind the Trump-Russia dossier explains why it's not 'fake news'

Next StoryTrump is now mocking Steve Bannon with a new nickname