On Friday, Bloomberg Politics published a piece with the shocking revelation that Nancy Reagan was endorsing Hillary Clinton. But it wasn’t long before the news website had to admit that it had been hoaxed. Their Nancy Reagan was a fake.
The April 10 piece titled, “Nancy Reagan gives her endorsement to… Hillary Clinton,” made to quote a piece supposedly on the Drudge Report that said that former first lady and wife of conservative icon President Ronald Reagan was endorsing another former first lady, Hillary Clinton.
“For the GOP, this is slightly awkward. Since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and especially since his death, the Gipper’s legacy has been worshipfully celebrated, often claimed, by Republican candidates,” Bloomberg writer Emily Greenhouse stated in the article.
Only one problem: The quote was from a fake Drudge Report site that was linked to by a parody site called the National Report. It is all a joke and Bloomberg fell for it.
For a time on Friday, Bloomberg left the article up with a disclaimer on it apologizing for having fallen for a hoax, but not long afterward, they pulled the article entirely. Now the address of the article goes to a “404 Page Not Found” placeholder.
Later on Friday, Bloomberg Politics Executive Editor Mike Nizza jumped on Twitter and lamented the mess the hoax made.
@moneyries @jonswaine very very stupid mistake, and one we take very seriously. simple as that.
— Mike Nizza (@mikenizza) April 10, 2015
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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