"A preacher after my own heart!"
Posted on 11/30/2014 1:23:20 AM PST by Slings and Arrows
A satirical news website managed to trick thousands of readers into phoning the Westboro Baptist Church, infamous for its ‘God Hates Fags’ slogan, after telling them that it was the “Turkey Safety Hotline” following an outbreak of avian flu.
The hoax article, ‘Millions of Thanksgiving Turkeys Recalled: Is Your Family Safe?’, was published by the National Report, which describes itself as “a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways.” The article claimed that a new strain of avian flu had infected turkeys across the country, putting people at risk over Thanksgiving:
“The CDC has confirmed that millions of turkeys have been recalled due to safety concerns over an avian virus that the birds may be harboring. The virus is related to human influenza virus but was thought to lack the ability to infect humans. However, it appears that the virus has recently developed the ability to move from bird hosts into humans. The results could be disastrous.”
The article then encouraged anyone who had bought a turkey to phone the ‘Turkey Safety Hotline’:
“Individuals that have purchased a turkey from any manufacturer are encouraged to call the Turkey Safety Hotline that has been established in collaboration with the CDC and several major turkey suppliers. The hotline is available 24 hours a day at [PHONE NUMBER REDACTED].”
Of course, that hotline was in fact the Westboro Baptist Church, who were no doubt rather bemused by the incoming stream of phone calls about turkeys. According to Pink News, thousands of people attempted to phone the hotline, enough to keep the church’s phone line consistently blocked, with one caller complaining:
“why don’t you make more phone lines available so people can get through. Just one number is not going to help the whole country.”
The National Report may not be the first people to prank the ‘God Hates Fags’ church, but this might be one of the more inventive approaches yet.
"A preacher after my own heart!"
Actually, the Tall Man was talking about Pinhead, but who knows, maybe he’s friends with Phelps, too!
They have so much in common...
Good for them!
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