A post on X claims that CNN published an article about the viral meme ‘Chill Guy,’ calling it a symbol of hate and the figurehead of racist right-wingers.
He’s just a chill guy and they hate him for it pic.twitter.com/A5LZFsahus
— Declaration of Memes (@LibertyCappy) November 26, 2024
Verdict: False
The screenshot is digitally altered. CNN did not publish anything of the sort.
Fact Check:
‘Chill Guy’ is a meme that has taken social media by storm in the last couple of weeks. As just a simple dog wearing a sweater with a smirk on his face, he represents the everyday guy who gets himself into touchy situations and seemingly doesn’t care. Created by artist Phillip Banks, ‘Chill Guy’ has been taken over by the internet and turned into a phenomenon.
A post on X claims that CNN published an article claiming that ‘Chill Guy’ is the “new figurehead of racist right-wingers.” The headline states that “These Are The New Symbols of Hate.”
This image is fabricated, however. It takes a screenshot of an article with the same headline but published in 2019 and simply adds the ‘Chill Guy’ information in and changes the date. Furthermore, the altered image clearly says “Satire” on it. The original article, written by the same journalist falsely credited in the altered image, was referring to gestures such as the ‘OK sign’ supposedly being symbols of racist hate.
screenshot of original article
The viral X post did not give any proof that the article was real, and a search of CNN’s website turns up no results. The post did not give any examples of ‘Chill Guy’ memes that were supposedly hateful, either.
This story was first reported by Lead Stories.