Fact Check: Rachel Maddow Did NOT Break Down Crying and Run Off Set Over 2024 US Presidential Election Results
Did MSNBC host Rachel Maddow break down crying and run off the set due to the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election? No, that’s not true: This post came from a self-described satirical Facebook account. The website attached to this account has a disclaimer that says, “Nothing on this page is real.”
The post appeared on Facebook on November 14, 2024. The caption said:
Rachel Maddow broke down crying and ran off set, once again proving the left’s inability to reach age 12.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Nov 21 16:06:26 2024 UTC)
The account that posted this claim, America–Love It Or Leave It, identifies itself on its About page as satire/parody.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Nov 21 16:06:26 2024 UTC)
The intro section of this Facebook account also links to the Dunning-Kruger Times website. The site is part of the America’s Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair.
Blair confirmed to Lead Stories in a November 21, 2024, email that none of the claims published on the ALLOD network are true, writing:
‘I can confirm that as with all of my content, these posts were all intended as satire with no basis in fact. America’s Last Line of Defense has always been a honeypot to attract the American political right so they can be exposed and criticized for the incredibly ignorant comments they leave and their complete inability to think for themselves.’
ALLOD
Blair, from Maine, along with a loose confederation of friends and allies runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with ‘comedy’:sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you’re still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair’s sites frequently get copied by “real” fake news sites that omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka “DashiKashi”) who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite “thank you” note, which is much appreciated.
What do we consider not to be satire?
Lead Stories has a Satire Policy that explains when we fact check satire and when we don’t:
Sometimes articles from humor or satire publications are copied by other sites and presented as real. In such cases we will label the copies as ‘False’.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning the ALLOD network can be read here.
When this fact check was written, Check Your Fact also reviewed the same claim.
