Yesterday I posted about Eddie Griffin being barred from entry into Kuwait and this morning I found out it wasn’t true, it was fake news. I never fall for fake news, I’m usually the one telling friends if the news is fake or not but this time I messed up.
How did it happen?
Originally when I was writing up my post about Eddie Griffin, the working title was “Calls for Eddie Griffin to be Barred from Entering Kuwait”. My source originally for this “news” was @tafteeesh. So as I was writing up my post I decided to look for news on twitter. Eventually I found the hashtag #لا_لدخول_الملحد_جريفين_الكويت with a ton of people posting about this including MP’s, users with over a million followers, and various news sources. So I concluded this was a fact and not just a rumor or a call for a ban. I then edited my title and removed “Calls for” because it was no longer a call for action but an action that had already been taken and I published my post.
Throughout the day yesterday, I was reading the comments when one reader posted stating that the organizer Algas Events were doing damage control saying it was just a rumor and that the event would still take place. So I quickly checked their instagram account so I could post an update but didn’t find anything concrete to dispute the original story. The organizers were replying to their followers with vague comments like “we got this” and then when a follower called them out on their vagueness they responded with the following:
That to me didn’t read as a denial to the rumor. In fact, it read to me like a decision was made to ban Eddie Griffin, but that they were in talks with the authorities to reverse the ban and they would keep us updated. Then, this morning I got a phone call.
A friend who is working with the organizers called to let me know that no decision was made to ban Eddie Griffin yet, and that all the sources for this news including reputable sources were not basing it off any official announcement by the MOI.
So, I basically posted fake news… I think. The only reason I’m not really sure is because they haven’t issued an official statement yet denying the ban. So there might be a bit of truth to all of this, we will have to wait and see. For now the event is still on and they’re still selling tickets.
I’m sorry I posted news that wasn’t verified yet (basically fake news) and I’ve updated my previous post to reflect this. I always try to post facts unless they’re clearly stated as rumors but this time I messed up.
Check out the events page for more info on this show [Here]
15 replies on “I Shared Fake News (I think)”
It was released today on Arab Times website saying he was banned. I don’t know if that is considered ‘official’?
yup it was also published in other papers but supposedly they’re all publishing fake news.
Gas Events made a reply to my comment about it being in the newspapers and they said ‘did you read/hear that news directly from the MOI’ I was like…well if the newspapers are fake then you have a crap load of pending lawsuits, don’t ya!
Mark you need a yellow wig and a really bad spray tan.
Fake news? Or the fact he really is banned and they are spinning it as fake news.
Either way, not worth taking the risk and them cancelling last minute.
I wish Kuwait would continue to bring great acts here…but we need to sort out our vision on where we stand with entertainment firstly
Is it possible that this is a publicity stunt in order to strengthen ticket sales?
Doubt it
My heart goes out to all these events organizing companies who are trying their best to lighten up this country but get shut down for the stupidest and most close minded reasons by government officials or people who think they’re doing the right thing without studying the situation. This is why everyone is looking to travel to have fun.
Apology accepted Mark, great professionalism with explaining
i booked a ticket some time ago. i was scared of the news because almost all accounts i rely on said he was banned then i saw that he actually went to KSA and thought no how come he would be banned here. he is christian i don’t know why they are saying stuff like he talked bad about the prophet and how he has no religion it was all weird till my sister sent me a screenshot of their account saying nothing changed get your tickets for October thankfully stupid people realize that he is a comedian and that they have the freedom of not going to see him
I wouldn’t come if i was him
You’re human Mark, although we tend to forget that 🙂
How can you even depend on Tafteesh as a ‘news’ source? The amount of fake news overthere and BS is absurd. I thought you were better than this.
I didn’t. Please read what I wrote.
Eddie G is not aware of any show cancellation…yet. Who wants to see George Lopez in Kuwait?