Monday, Huffington Post was kind enough to publish a parody post I authored on their comedy blog, "Microsoft, Apple Unite to Demand That the National Organization for Marriage Boycott Them." It was kind of hit, and may have even inspired a copycat.
But the premise was absurd. And the "public relations" people I "quoted" didn't exactly speak like PR flacks.
I quoted an "Apple" spokes person as saying:
"People should remember why they need the free WiFi in Starbucks: for Grindr! And without Apple, Grindr wouldn't even exist. Even our CEO is gay! Just how gay does Apple have to be before the NOMbies fire up their hate cannon and aim it at us? Bring it on, already!"
I quoted a "Microsoft" spokes person as saying:
So what gives? ... What about us? We've even got a rainbow in our logo. Boycott us, National Organization for Marriage! Now!
I also included this disclaimer at the end:
NOTE: This piece is satirical. All quotations are fabrications for the purpose of satire.
Apparently this and the fact it was published on
Huffington Post's Comedy vertical escaped the eagle-eyed journalists at MSNBC, who reported the story as news this morning. (Do they know about
The Onion, you think? Should we tell them?)
Oops.
Lesson to MSNBC: Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Video courtesy of Carlos Maza at Equality Matters.
Update: Roberts issued a correction today. I'll post video when available.
I appreciate Thomas Robert's work on MSNBC. In particular, I am grateful he is, thus far, the only journalist to hold Maggie Gallagher accountable and ask her to explain National Organization for Marriage's repulsive, cynical, race-baiting, secret political agenda. If only more journalists would do the same.
I appreciate that my writing caught Thomas' eye, and he owes me, personally, no apology. We are all human, and occasionally we make mistakes. He has behaved responsibly and brought the error to his viewers' attention, promptly and with humility, as any professional journalist would.