Fact-checkers at AFP took the time to “debunk” obvious jokes suggesting the Queen had revealed she had information that could lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton before her death.
Following the death of the British monarch, some social media users indulged in a little black humour, mocking up Twitter posts attributed to an @QueenElizabeth account saying “I have damning information that will lead to the immediate arrest of Hillary Clinton” and “By royal decree, I have acquired all information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton”, for example.
Another mock-up attributed to the Royal Family’s official account similarly claimed that “The Queen has information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton.”
Despite their obviously jocular and unserious nature, the AFP fact-checking team still took the time to intone gravely that any suggestion the Queen had indicated she had dirt on the former First Lady and U.S. Secretary of State prior to her sudden death was a “false claim”.
New @AFPFactCheck: The queen did not say before dying that she had information that will lead to Hillary Clinton's arrest, as some social media posts allege. This false claim is just the latest version of a years-old meme predicated on a conspiracy theory. https://t.co/sWPlnwS71U pic.twitter.com/hTu8FNvgcw
— Bill McCarthy (@billdmccarthy) September 14, 2022
“Social media posts claim Queen Elizabeth II announced before she died that she had information that could lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton. This is false; there is no record of the queen [sic] making such a statement,” the French government-linked news wire agency declared in an article penned by one Bill McCarthy, adding that “the claim matches a years-old meme that reflects a conspiracy theory that the former secretary of state and her husband kill their political opponents.”
“Some social media users appeared to take the posts seriously,” McCarthy claimed, without citing any examples of people actually taken in by the joke — though doubtless some pretended to believe it for comic effect.
McCarthy also fact-checked other obvious jokes about the Queen’s death, “debunking” an image showing Meghan Markle wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “The Queen Is Dead” — “This is false; the image was digitally altered” — and a mocked-up Truth Social post in which Donald Trump supposedly revealed that the Queen had knighted him in private — “This is false; the purported screenshot from Trump’s platform is fake, his spokesperson confirmed, and research shows that no authentic live or archived versions of such a post exist.”
The responses to McCarthy’s stentorian efforts to protect the public from supposed misinformation about Hillary Clinton potentially having the Queen murdered ranged from open mockery to facetious praise.
“Fact that you’re denying this leads me to believe she did,” wrote one Twitterr user.
“Next, you’re going to tell me that she can’t move any direction on a chessboard,” quipped another.
“Amazing use of your time,” added another — possibly not sincerely.
❌ This photo of Meghan Markle wearing a shirt that says “The Queen is Dead” has been altered. The original image shows the Duchess of Sussex wearing a plain gray coat https://t.co/N4XvfBnvlt pic.twitter.com/TQdmLWNmwn
— AFP Fact Check 🔎 (@AFPFactCheck) September 15, 2022
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