Here's how The Daily Stormer created fake tweets to destroy a Arab American comedian's reputation
By: Eric Heisig
Source: cleveland.com
Nazi website The Daily Stormer went to great lengths to create images of fake tweets that smeared the reputation of a prominent Muslim American comedian and radio show host, according to a lawsuit filed by the comedian.
Dean Obeidallah says Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, who lives in the Columbus suburb of Worthington, accused him of being a terrorist in a June 1 article and said he carried out a bombing at an Ariana Grande show at an arena in Manchester, England that killed 23 and hundreds more injured.
The article, headlined “Dean Obeidallah, Mastermind Behind Manchester Bombing, Calls on Trump to Declare Whites the Real Terrorists,” includes a series of fabricated tweets that, to the untrained eye, would look real if an image was embedded in a news story, Obeidallah claims.
The fabricated tweets are chronicled in a defamation lawsuit Obeidallah filed in federal court in Columbus Aug. 16 against Anglin and The Daily Stormer. Obeidallah claimed he received death threats after The Daily Stormer posted the story and is demanding its removal.
Take this fake tweet, for example, that says Obeidallah took responsibility for the Manchester bombing:
In reality, he said nothing of the sort. Here is the real tweet in which the image is based.
Jared Kushner’s father went to jail for tax evasion+for illegal campaign donations. Jared is not naive-he understands how law works #AMJoy
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) May 27, 2017
The lawsuit says Anglin and The Daily Stormer designed the fake tweet to resemble the actual tweet. The image of the fake tweet mirrored the number of replies, retweets and likes that the real tweet received to make it look as real as possible.
The fake tweet even included the hashtag “#AMJoy,” which Obeidllalh regularly uses.
The lawsuit says The Daily Stormer followed this template with several other fake tweets it posted. Again, they were made to look similar to Obeidallah’s tweets, and included previews to news stories he linked to and, mimicked the number of retweets and likes the actual tweets received.
Compare this fake one, in which The Daily Stormer said the Manchester bombing suspect will be rewarded for his suicide mission:
To the real one, where he merely said an article was “very informative”:
Very informative: ‘Forgive Me’: Manchester Bomber’s Tangled Path of Conflict and Rebellion https://t.co/CwL7PFjOt2
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) May 28, 2017
There are seven examples in all. Like this fake tweet:
Which Obeidallah says was modeled on this real tweet:
Trump pulling out of Paris accord and destroying relations with our NATO allies. This is not America First-it’s America isolated from world
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) May 31, 2017
In one instance, a fake tweet claimed Obeidallah would be on CNN “discussing how I masterminded the Manchester bombing.”
When in fact Obeidallah tweeted that he would be on CNN for a completely different reason.
Ill be on @CNNTonight at 11:30pmet discussing the white supremacist terrorist attack in Portland. Hope u tune in.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) May 31, 2017
Anglin did it again in a “preview” for Obeidallah’s show on SiriusXM. The fake tweet says Obeidallah said “22 is a pretty good score, inshallah more will die in the hospital,” according to the lawsuit. This is designed to be a reference to those who died in the Manchester bombing.
(Court filings)
In fact, Obeidallah tweeted that the topic of his conversation would be a controversial image released by Kathy Griffin in which the comedian is pictured holding a fake, severed, bloody head of President Donald Trump.
Did Kathy Griffin go too far? I thought Trump Hated Political correctness? We discuss on my @SXMProgress show at 6:05PMET 866-997-4748 pic.twitter.com/kv5aRt6LJA
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) May 31, 2017
Anglin and The Daily Stormer have not responded to the lawsuit.
Obeidallah says he is a proponent of free speech, but that this went too far.