PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2019-03-13 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • No, this is not a photo of a man who pretended to his wife that he was deaf and couldn't speak for 62 years (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • Multiple Facebook and Twitter posts share a photo they claim shows a man who pretended he was deaf and could not speak for 62 years in order to avoid speaking to his wife. But the claim previously appeared on a satirical news website that calls its stories fictional and the image actually shows an elderly couple who underwent a high-profile divorce battle in Florida. The misleading posts, like this one published March 10, 2019 by a page called Zambian Accurate Information, which has more than 90,000 followers, contain an image with two photos side-by-side: one of a grey-haired man in a suit, and one of a grey-haired woman. This post's caption states in part: The World of Wonders!! MAN PRETENDED TO BE DEAF AND DUMP [sic] FOR 62 YEARS TO AVOID QUARELLING [sic] WITH HIS WIFE. Below is a screenshot of the post: Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post The same photo has been shared repeatedly with a similar claim for example here , here and here on Facebook, and here on Twitter. In some of the posts, the image is accompanied by a headline and text from this article published by satirical news website worldnewsdailyreport.com on March 4, 2019. The article's headline says: MAN FAKED BEING DEAF AND DUMB FOR 62 YEARS TO AVOID LISTENING TO HIS WIFE. The image below compares a screenshot of one of the misleading posts (L) and a screenshot of the World News Daily Report article (R): Image comparing screenshot of one of the misleading Facebook posts (L) with screenshot of the article on worldnewsdailyreport.com (R) (AFP) In a disclaimer page on its website here , World News Daily Report states it assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. It states: All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle. Here is a screenshot of the disclaimer: Screenshot of the disclaimer A Google reverse image search found that the misleading photo is actually a mirror-image version of a photograph credited here to Lannis Waters of The Palm Beach Post, a local newspaper in Florida. The accompanying article published on July 13, 2017 reports on the divorce of a wealthy couple, Burt and Lucille Handelsman, after 67 years of marriage. The article's headline says: Palm Beach divorce to end 67-year marriage shakes up Worth Ave. empire. Here is a screenshot of the Palm Beach Post article: Screenshot of the article AFP found other media reports about the same court case which use different photos of the couple, for example here and here . UPDATE: This story was updated 15/03/2019 to amend the wording of the headline and first paragraph. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url