Over the past few days a piece of news has been doing the rounds that Sasha Obama, daughter of former President Barack Obama, was arrested in a million-dollar shoplifting ring in Chicago. The claim first appeared on a website and since has gone viral on social media that has left many confused.
Although many have also started believing in this claim, fact is that there is no truth in it and it is completely a false piece of information trying to mislead people. However, it is still not clear to many how Sasha Obama's name got linked to this rumor.
Weird Claim
Earlier this week an article appeared on the website Obamawatcher.com. The article published claims that Sasha Obama was arrested in Chicago in connection to a multi-million dollar shoplifting ring. The article further claimed that she was later released and her name was also completely wiped off the record, so that she doesn't land in trouble.
It also mentioned that Shasha Obama used her influence and her father Barrack Obama power to get her name removed from the high-profile shoplifting ring.
The article read: Police at a fancy shopping mall outside of Chicago have nabbed what they described as a "million-dollar shoplifting ring," and with it -- Sasha Obama. Obama was reportedly included in the initial arrest but has since been removed from the record completely. No media has reported it and the Skokie police have no record that she's even been to Rosemont."
However, the claim is completely false and there are several reasons to not believe in this article.
Completely False
The first to no believe in the claim is that it appeared in the second paragraph of the article. If it was such an important piece of news, it would have been on the first paragraph of the article. Moreover, it didn't appear in any other media outlet.
The article further read: "How did she get away with it? Simple. Our source tells us she used a bit of privilege along with some reverse racism to make it all disappear -- with a little help from Daddy..."
The our source in the above paragraph in the original article on the Obamawatcher.com website is hyperlinked and leads readers to a Google Translate page that confirmed that details of the story were made-up.
For the uninitiated, Obamawatcher.com is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" which is a network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies.
Blair runs several websites and Facebook pages where he and his allies publish satirical news. Most of the published stories are made up and it was no different in this case.
Most of the made-up stories with headlines are specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
However, the website publishes its articles with the disclaimer: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing."
Hence there is absolutely no truth in the claim.
