The story of a Chinese zoo that named a baby gorilla Harambe McHarambeface went viral Tuesday morning. Multiple outlets, including the Daily Mail, Metro, and the Mirror shared the story—and, as you would expect, the Internet rejoiced.
https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/775698068457095168
A Chinese zoo just named a baby gorilla Harambe McHarambeface I’ve never been happier in my entire life
— joe baseball (@elipapyeoj) September 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/JonnyMcNarwhal/status/775729720692510724
Here’s a clipping from the original story, reported by the Boston Leader.
Woah, that’s exciting! There’s just one small problem.
if the Internet is lying to me about Harambe McHarambeface I’m gonna be so pissed
— חאשה (@claritchka) September 13, 2016
Yeah… about that. The whole thing is almost definitely a hoax.
For one thing, the zoo in question hasn’t updated its site since 2013. Same goes for its page on Chinese social media site QQ.com.
You can search far and wide, but the only recent baby gorilla naming contest you’ll find is one at a Philadelphia zoo.
Baby gorilla makes debut at Philadelphia Zoo; naming contest to come. https://t.co/hLzWC1fUAK pic.twitter.com/3j8CGxNANF
— Philadelphia Inquirer Politics (@PoliticsINQ) August 31, 2016
In fact, people tossed the name around then.
https://twitter.com/iamjoonlee/status/771065527234129920
There was also a public waterslide in Australia that folks suggested could use the name.
https://twitter.com/WJMolinari/status/766259952063242245
So it’s not hard to see why people wanted to believe in this story. And it certainly looked real enough.
The Boston Leader, where the story originally appeared, bills itself as a local news outlet serving the public since 1932.
Boston Leader
But the site appears to have no other “real” articles. All links lead to an error message. And as of the writing of this article, the site itself appears to be down.
Boston Leader
And yet, isn’t this viral fake news story a small victory for us all? Today, as members of team internet, shouldn’t we rejoice?
Today has been a great day for Team Internet
— Sam (@Samkingftw) September 13, 2016
‘ Harambe McHarambeface ‘
https://twitter.com/robotbellion/status/775730061630644224
Harambe McHarambeface trending on Twitter is exactly why the Internet is a fantastic place
— Alex (@AlexMcGuire98) September 13, 2016
Yes and yea, we shall.
“Harambe McHarambeface”is the best meme mashup since Y U No Lyin’, Trump Did 7/11, and Hotline Bling Fries Are Done
— Orli Matlow (@HireMeImFunny) September 13, 2016
R.I.P. Harambe. May you live forever in our hearts, our memes, and our hoaxes.
