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| - AAP FACTCHECK – Restaurant owners are on the rampage, kicking “woke” and “ungodly” people out of their establishments, social media posts claim.
This is false. The posts in question were originally created and labelled as satire, but they have since been shared as genuine news.
Among those supposedly being thrown out of eateries are Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, actor Tom Hanks and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Those who ejected them purportedly include celebrity chefs Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri, and basketballer-turned-restaurant-chain-owner Shaquille O’Neal.
“Gᴏrdon Ramsay Throws Tim Walz Out of Hell’s Kitchen: ‘Don’t Come Back Here You Woke Creep’,” a Facebook post said.
“He’s Ungodly and Woke”: Guy Fieri Throws Tom Hanks Out Of His Restaurant,” another post said.
“Breaking: Gordon Ramsay Kicks Lia Thomas Out Of His Restaurant, ‘Woke People Don’t Dine Here’,” according to a similar Facebook post.
The stories were created by The Patriots Network, an organisation that runs satirical websites SpaceXMania and Esspots.
AAP FactCheck previously tracked down The Patriots Network’s operator, Pakistan-based Muhammad Shabayer Shaukat, who confirmed that the posts on both websites are satire.
He said his team used artificial intelligence, particularly Chat GPT, to create posts that drove website traffic and boosted advertising revenue.
While the original stories were labelled as satire, other websites have regularly reposted them without mentioning that fact.
Mr Shaukat told AAP FactCheck he had nothing to do with third-party websites and took no responsibility for his fake stories being presented as real.
He said he targeted American conservatives with anything that fit their general worldview.
In his fake restaurant stories, ejected diners include Democratic supporters, such as Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro, as well as politically polarising individuals such as former US soccer player Megan Rapinoe and Lia Thomas.
Experts have rejected the suggestion Mr Shaukat’s content is satire, instead describing it as “pure clickbait” and “designed for a single purpose … to rile up polarised audiences and drive them to the website to serve ads at them”.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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