Joyce Carol Oates Thought Dead Dinosaur In ‘Jurassic Park’ Picture Is Real, Gets Angry At Steven Spielberg For Killing It

Joyce Carol Oates apparently needs to brush up on her dinosaur history.

The Pulitzer-nominated author wrote an angry tweet after seeing a picture of Steven Spielberg on the set of the original movie in the Jurassic Park series. The picture showed the famed director sitting in front of a triceratops lying down.

The picture took the style of a safari shot, with a hunter smiling in front of his prey — at least that’s what the author thought.

“So barbaric that this should still be allowed… No conservation laws in effect wherever this is?” the 77-year-old author wrote.

So barbaric that this should still be allowed… No conservation laws in effect wherever this is? https://t.co/hgavm9IBaM

— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) June 9, 2015

Joyce Carol Oates was responding to a tweet from IGN movie editor Chris Tilly, who originally posted the dinosaur picture apparently as a joke. Tilly later apologized to Oates for seemingly having duped her.

There is a chance that Oates was joking as well, but E! News thinks that’s not the case.

“Now, we’d like to think that Oates is just joking here, but probably not. She hasn’t tweeted anything about it, even after hundreds of people pointed out that the photo was of a director and his fake animal. You’d think she’d reply back to people making fun of her if she was just kidding around. And also, don’t make fun of Joyce Carol Oates!”

The flap quickly found a large audience. Many news outlets picked up on the author apparently not knowing that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.

It even made it into Joyce’s Wikipedia page.

“Despite her many accolades and education, Oates does not know what a dinosaur is, or that they have been extinct for millions of years,” someone wrote.

But Joyce Carol Oates isn’t the only one to think the dinosaur was real. When the same picture found its way to Facebook last year many people were outraged, thinking that Steven Spielberg had killed the dinosaur.

“Steven Spielberg has absolutely no respect for animals,” one person wrote. “Posing in front of this poor dead animal like that. Barbaric.”

“One day we realize that we are killing all animals on this planet and we need them to survive,” wrote another. “But when we realize it will be too late.”

While the latest incident may be a bit embarrassing, it’s likely taught Joyce Carol Oates a bit about dinosaur history. At the very least she’s likely heard of Jurassic Park now.

[Image via Twitter]