A Twitter user named Pixelated Boat put up a spoof excerpt from Michael Wolff’s book claiming that President Trump was upset that he couldn’t get “the gorilla channel” in the White House. The spoof went on to claim that Trump was bored by the makeshift channel until staff edited out everything but the gorillas fighting. Here’s the faux excerpt:
Wow, this extract from Wolff’s book is a shocking insight into Trump’s mind: pic.twitter.com/1ZecclggSa
— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018
Lots of people got the joke and found it funny:
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/949112465924730885
I love how this makes fun of Trumpland and also its beyond-gullible critics. Also, I want a gorilla channel for real. https://t.co/6HwPZKsW4X
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 5, 2018
— BlueVotr (@BlueVotr) January 5, 2018
I’m dying laughing at how many people aren’t sure if this is a real excerpt from the Wolff book or not https://t.co/e6wOJ2zUZB
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) January 5, 2018
But as Allahpundit pointed out, quite a few people were eager to believe the worst about the president, like Democratic strategist Scott Dworkin:
Oh, Scott pic.twitter.com/EwkSdtCfLq
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 5, 2018
Dworkin tried to recover and wound up looking even worse:
LOL pic.twitter.com/rbTPgp0U1T
— Will Campbell (@WILLionaire317) January 5, 2018
The Gorilla story was more believable than Dworkin’s walk back.
when you're definitely not mad online pic.twitter.com/jicJDoZNtG
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 5, 2018
Actor Don Cheadle thought it sounded fake but wasn’t quite sure:
Don Cheadle, too pic.twitter.com/4y7rdnQxFv
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 5, 2018
There are dozens (hundreds) more people with low follower counts who either believed this or weren’t sure if it were true when they first read it. You can take that as a comment on them or on the general believability of Michael Wolff’s book (“Fire and Fury”). Pixelated Boat had this to say about his intentions and the outcome of his spoof:
tfw you parody a guy making up shit about Trump but people believe it so you become part of the problem
— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018
Finally, Esquire imagines what the gorilla channel might have looked like. Honestly, I’d probably watch this for a few minutes:
We now return to…The Gorilla Channel pic.twitter.com/RqwgTbsjjm
— Esquire (@esquire) January 5, 2018