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Twitter slammed for letting fake photo of George Floyd's 'killer' wearing Make Whites Great Again hat go viral

Ex-cop Derek Chauvin found himself being subjected to not just death threats but also a fake photo collage that falsely claimed he had been previously pictured sporting a Make Whites Great Again hat
PUBLISHED MAY 28, 2020
(YouTube)
(YouTube)

Just days after Twitter announced that it would be applying a "fact check" label on tweets with misleading information and fake news, the social media giant has been accused of turning a blind eye towards a photo falsely linking a Minneapolis police officer with a 'Make Whites Great Again' hat. The disturbing nature of 46-year-old George Floyd's death earlier this week has prompted outrage across the country. In a now-viral video that has been viewed millions of times, a police officer identified as Derek Chauvin can be seen pinning Floyd to the ground by his neck using his knees even as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe.

The altercation had reportedly unfolded after he and three other officers responded to the 3700 Block of Chicago Avenue South for a "forgery in progress" and found Floyd, who matched the description of the suspect, to be "under the influence."

In the ensuing scuffle, Floyd was forced out his car and pinned to the ground, with the video showing Chauvin keeping his knee on the 46-year-old's neck for several minutes until he lost consciousness and became unresponsive. Floyd was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center by ambulance but could not be saved and was declared dead a short while later.

The incident was quickly decried by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said it was "completely and utterly messed up" and that the officer in question had "failed in the most basic human sense." The backlash that followed resulted in all four officers involved being terminated from their positions, though that has not stopped the anger directed at them on social media.

Chauvin, in particular, has found himself being subjected to not just death threats but also a fake photo collage that falsely claimed he had been previously pictured sporting a Make Whites Great Again hat.

Several prominent figures tweeted and retweeted the picture, including radio host Talbert Swan, who wrote in the caption, "Here is Derek Chauvin, the racist cop who kept his knee on #GeorgeFloyd's neck, cut off his air passage and murdered him, wearing a 'Make Whites Great Again' hat, a clear sign that this piece of excrement should've been taken off the streets a long time ago."

When it was pointed out to him that the picture was fake and he should take it down, Swan doubled down and tweeted, "To you bigots outraged about Derek Chauvin allegedly being misidentified as a white man in a 'Make Whites Great Again' hat but not about him murdering #GeorgeFloyd, go to Hades." Rapper and actor Ice Cube was another who tweeted the image. "A wolf in wolves clothing. The demons are among us," he wrote.

Mike Sington, a former executive at NBCUniversal, suggested the hat was indicative of Chauvin being a Trump supporter. "Here's the cop Derek Chauvin in the process of murdering George Floyd. Look at that, the scumbag was photographed wearing a 'Make Whites Great Again' hat. 100% guarantee he also owns a MAGA hat," he posted.

However, it was reported that the man in the picture was not Chauvin and may have been former federal prisoner Jonathan Lee Riches, who is said to have filed over 4,000 lawsuits. Twitter was accused of double standards for not taking any of the tweets down and letting it go viral despite their lack of credibility, though the platform did eventually move to act.

Around 12 hours after Ice Cube first posted the image, and at which point it already had 40,000 retweets, the company announced it had added a "manipulated media" warning to "hundreds" of tweets containing the doctored photo.

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