Jump to content

'Gorilla channel' warfare: Parody book excerpt fools Trump trashers

WestVirginiaRebel

By WestVirginiaRebel
in News & Opinion

 Share

Recommended Posts

WestVirginiaRebel

WestVirginiaRebel

Posted
Posted
gorilla-channel-warfare-parody-book-excerpt-fools-trump-trashers.html

One of the most entertaining "excerpts" circulated from Michael Wolff's explosive tell-all was a passage describing President Trump supposedly watching a “gorilla channel” for hours on end. 

The excerpt, of course, was a parody and wasn't actually from the “Fire and Fury” book. 

But it managed to fool plenty of Trump critics anyway, with an MSNBC contributor and others initially appearing to treat the passage as legit. 

The “Fire and Fury” fake-out clearly exploited an environment where journalists were hastily tweeting excerpts as they devoured the salacious book filled with alleged anecdotes of aides trashing the president and Trump himself munching through cheeseburgers in his bedroom while glued to multiple TVs.

Amid the firestorm, Twitter user @pixelatedboat sent out the spoof excerpt Thursday. 

The wild tale involves White House staff appeasing Trump’s demands for a “gorilla channel” by compiling footage of the combative apes, only for them to have to edit it further as Trump complained that they weren't fighting enough.

The story finished with a Wolff-style quote from an “insider."

“‘On some days he’ll watch the gorilla channel for 17 hours straight,’ an insider told me. ‘He kneels in front of the TV, with his face about four inches from the screen, and says encouraging things to the gorillas, like ‘the way you hit that other gorilla was good.’ I think he thinks the gorillas can hear him.’”

Yet the tall tale was picked up by some credulous Trump trashers. MSNBC contributor Scott Dworkin circulated the ancedote, mocking Trump. He later deleted it, but it was preserved here.  He later said he wasn't fooled at all.

 

I didn’t “get fooled” into tweeting this & deleting it. I didn’t put *satire* at the end so I deleted then didn’t repost. If you think that’s news, I feel sorry for you. The saddest part is this COULD be true, because Trump is this insane, probably moreso. Still hilarious. ? https://twitter.com/pixelatedboat/status/949100087350710272 …

 
 

Eric Garland, who came up with the now infamous phrase, “Guys it’s time for some game theory” admitted that he got “totally punked” by the tweet.

 

This is going to shock you but Eric Garland fell for that satirical Trump book excerpt about him wanting a Gorilla TV channel

 
 

“...ut when you've already gotten to "eating KFC in bed," I mean, we're through the looking glass,” he qualified, before changing his profile to “CEO of the Gorilla Channel” in an apparent act of self-mockery.

 

Dammit guys, I got totally punked on the Gorilla Channel thing - but when you've already gotten to "eating KFC in bed," I mean, we're through the looking glass. 

Thanks to all who called me out. We keep it clean and Deza-free at Game Theory HQ. ?

 
 
 155155 Retweets  
 
 1,3341,334 likes
 
 

New York Times journalist Farhad Manjoo was unimpressed by the spoof, after initially asking whether or not it was real. He said such jokes are “making things worse.”

 

Don’t tweet screenshots of fake text (of book excerpts, court transcripts, etc) even as a joke. 

You’re making things worse. 

The jokes just don’t work in a partisan-echo-chamber-feed world where everything is divorced from context and authorship. 

Also they’re not funny

 
 
 176176 Retweets  
 
 793793 likes
 
 

The gaffes quickly led other commentators to enjoy the moment and meme it up a little.

 

"And I tried to tell the producer that we didn't want to fight, and it didn't matter what the president wanted."

 
 
 532532 Retweets  
 
 2,1632,163 likes
 
 
 

Haha you guys, I totally fell for the tweet about Trump eating babies from the "Funny fake tweets" account, but what do you expect? Everything sounds plausible now. Anyway back to my totally sane thread about the chip Putin planted in Trump's head. /142

 
 
 
 259259 Retweets  
 
 930930 likes
 
 

By Friday afternoon, @pixelatedboat had changed his Twitter name to “the gorilla channel thing is a joke” just in case.

________

The actual book isn't that much different...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • 1713502699
×
×
  • Create New...