PinkNews, the “world’s most read & watched LGBT+ digital media publisher,” has a pretty huge scoop on the future Biden administration:
Joe Biden 'almost certain' to make Pete Buttigieg America's first out gay cabinet official. Here's where he could land https://t.co/k0QFpIqie6
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) November 10, 2020
Wow! Amazing! What a story!
What a bunch of BS.
Richard Grenell, for one, would like a word:
Why isn’t this tweet fact-checked by @twitter? Why are they so one-sided?! https://t.co/QzOBpO7nRQ
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 10, 2020
PinkNews’ article does acknowledge Grenell’s existence (though we’re not sure if this copy was initially in their post):
If confirmed, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay person ever to hold a full-time cabinet post – though controversial gay Trump official Richard Grenell previously held the cabinet-level role of Director of National Intelligence on an interim basis.
So basically, Grenell was the first out gay cabinet official technically speaking, but he doesn’t really count because Trump.
Nuance — if you can even call it that — aside, PinkNews’ tweet is a bald-faced lie. And yet the day after it was posted, Twitter still hasn’t felt the need to slap any kind of warning on it.
Almost as if Twitter doesn’t actually have a problem with misinformation as long as the right people are misinformed.
If Twitter won’t fact check I will. WRONG.
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) November 10, 2020
It doesn’t get much wronger.
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HMMMM, that already happened. @RichardGrenell
— Jarrett B. Edwards (@JarrettBEdwards) November 10, 2020
PinkNews even noted it at the time:
Ha. @PinkNews is contradicting its own reporting. pic.twitter.com/qLhgP4QMo0
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) November 10, 2020
How embarrassing.
*tfw you can't acknowledge that President Trump appointed the first openly gay cabinet official so you just revise history in real time and hope nobody says anything*
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) November 10, 2020
I'm not asking you to like Ric Grenell, because frankly I'm not a fan, but denying he's the first openly-gay cabinet-level official is the sort of thing that makes normal Americans hate the media.
— Nathan Wurtzel (((Slight Return))) (@NathanWurtzel) November 10, 2020