(Deadline)
Deadline published a “news” story on Sunday about ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi canceling a planned meeting with Sean Penn. However, no such meeting was to ever take place, as the Hollywood trade site’s source was a fake New Yorker article by satirist Andy Borowitz.
Borowitz is the author of a column called the “Borowitz Report,” which features articles that lampoon actual current events with an absurdist twist. As Gossip Cop reported, Penn did in fact meet with Mexican drug lord El Chapo last October for an interview that was published in Rolling Stone on Saturday. A day prior, El Chapo was caught by the Mexican government, which claimed Penn’s interview helped lead to the drug kingpin’s capture.
In his satirical piece, Borowitz joked that al-Baghdadi felt his meeting with Penn was no longer “prudent” following El Chapo’s arrest, and that the actor-drector was “disappointed” because he had already purchased “brand new desert-camo attire in preparation for the meeting.” The humorist then cracked that the ISIS leader was still an “enormous fan” of Penn, and even loved “that [movie] he did with Madonna.”
Shortly thereafter, Deadline, a sister site of HollywoodLife, picked up the entirely phony report and relayed its details as fact, despite the ridiculous nature of the story. After realizing it had been duped, the site promptly deleted its report and issued a retraction. The outlet explained, “A weekend editor misinterpreted a humorous story… and filed as a Deadline news story.” The statement further read, “[The story] has no basis in truth and is a regrettable error. Deadline Hollywood apologizes to Mr. Penn.”
