Sunday, 7 May 2017

Oklahoma Pregnant Woman Badly Beaten By A Muslim Refugee Is Fake News Using Film Photo

Reports falsely suggested that a heavily pregnant woman was beaten by a Muslim refugee in Oklahoma. However, a screenshot from a movie was used to illustrate the completely fabricated claim. In April 2017, claims circulated social media that the woman who was seven months pregnant was badly beaten by an alleged “Muslim refugee” in Oklahoma. Despite being shared on social media, there is no truth to this story.



The false claims were spread by sites like True Trumpers and The New York Evening, but neither website included any details about the alleged attack other than the above image. True Trumpers’ brief, poorly written, and ominous caption stated the following. It appears to just be an attempt at aggravating tensions over the refugee issue.


BREAKING NEWS: This 7 month pregnant woman was beaten by Muslim refugee in Oklahoma. Do you support hang him?


The New York Evening’s posting on social media also lacked any details whatsoever, and bore the same broken English as True Trumpers. However, in this case, The New York Evening used all caps in its text.


THIS 7 MONTH PREGNANT WOMAN WAS BEATEN BY MUSLIM REFUGEE IN OKLAHOMA. DO YOU SUPPORT HANG HIM?


According to Snopes, both posts largely rely on the attached photograph shown above to support their claim. Rather the image is actually a still, not a photograph, and comes from a 2014 thriller movie called “Proxy,” in which a pregnant woman miscarries after being beaten by an unknown assailant.


Here are some examples of people sharing the fake news on social media.










“Proxy” debuted at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and arrived in theaters on April 18. Alexia Rasmussen, playing a lonely pregnant woman named Esther, is brutally assaulted within minutes of the movie’s opening, suffering a brutal beating that carries with it serious consequences both physical and psychological.


In a review from Variety, “Proxy” has few frills and doe not need them; stylistically, it aims to be sharp and simple as a knife. Performances are solid, with Klebe gleefully punching across a potentially offensive lesbian stereotype. One shot of lethal weapon Anika furiously doing situps, a lit cigarette dangling from her mouth, underlines that both movie and thesp have found a useful midpoint between straight-faced menace and knowing parody.


Both True Trumpers and The New York Evening are known purveyors of fake news. For this fake news piece, both sites used a screenshot from a fictional movie to bolster their false claim, not a photograph from an actual event.


What did you think of the fake news claiming an attack by a Muslim refugee on a pregnant woman? Did you believe it or see people sharing it falsely on social media? Let us know in the comments section.



Source: B2C
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