Another hoax involving Charles Manson has been making an impact across social media — and this one involves presidential hopeful Donald Trump. The York Daily Record reports that the joke originated from a satire site that may contain malware, and it has been going viral all week on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.
The hoax story claims that the notorious Charles Manson has endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States of America. The York Daily Record notes that numerous people apparently fell for the satire news story, leading to it being shared like wildfire by people who were convinced that this bizarre presidential race was getting weirder by the minute.
@realDonaldTrump Well, at least you got the Charles Manson endorsement to David Duke’s. That ought to swing a few votes for you :/
— Michael Openshaw (@mopenshaw) March 18, 2016
I take great comfort in knowing Charles Manson has endorsed @realDonaldTrump #HelterSkelter #MarchMadness
— Randy Blazak, PhD. (@rblazak) March 18, 2016
No, Charles Manson didn’t endorse Donald Trump. I like to think even Charlie thinks Trump is too crazy for him.
— Kurt Belcher (@KurtBelcher) March 18, 2016
Charles Manson has endorsed @realDonaldTrump . My drawings of Manson girl Leslie Van Houten: https://t.co/YURc55PNcY pic.twitter.com/OKlB0bzQVJ
— Marisa J. Futernick (@MarisaFuternick) March 18, 2016
This is far from the first time Manson has been the topic of a viral internet hoax — and it won’t likely be the last time, either. Last year, Gossip Cop reported on a death hoax that went viral, claiming that the aging inmate had passed away. The reports claimed that Manson had committed suicide by hanging himself. He had also supposedly left a suicide note claiming to be immortal. Of course, this was all false, but it didn’t keep droves of people from falling for it.
Andrew Vanderwoude https://t.co/6ueim0gw7C
— ChefJaimeVanderWoude (@ChefJaimevw) March 18, 2016
Another hoax involving Charles Manson circulated in 2014, claiming that the notorious murder mastermind was granted parole and was to be released from prison. The satire report claimed that Manson was being freed from prison as part of a program to remedy the overcrowding of California state prisons and jails. Since Manson was 79-years-old at the time, he was reportedly granted release as part of the program’s decision to release elderly inmates. Of course, Snopes quickly shut down this hoax, which went viral and convinced a lot of people anyway. Charles Manson may never see the outside of a prison for the rest of his life. His next parole hearing isn’t until the year 2027.
Earlier this year, Manson was also falsely rumored to endorse presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. This also turned out to be a total hoax.
Donald Trump is also the focus of a lot of viral hoax stories. Earlier during Trump’s bid to become President of the United States, a hoax went viral that quoted him as saying that Republican voters are dumb.
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”
Snopes has also debunked this hoax as completely false. However, the damage (whatever damage could be done, at least) was already done by the time this hoax was debunked. Even political pundit Glenn Beck fell for another viral hoax involving the mogul, which attracted criticism directly from Trump himself.
Were you one of the people who fell for this latest Charles Manson hoax? Some people weren’t at all surprised to believe that Manson had endorsed Donald Trump, but the fact of the matter is that no such thing is true — at least, not yet.
[Image via Twitter/Prison mugshot]
