Critics of Donald Trump‘s presidency have long joked it would put The Onion out of business.
But the joke became a jarring slap of reality on Friday when a month-old parody article cut a little too close to the bone.
The famous satire news site began trending on Twitter as users shared a gag article headlined: “Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It’s Coronavirus Cure.”
It was written on March 25th, almost a month before Donald Trump’s latest press conference, in which he suggested injecting disinfectant might be a good way to clean the lungs of coronavirus.
“I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that? By injection inside or almost a cleaning?” the POTUS asked a stoic-faced Dr Deborah Birx during Thursday’s live briefing.
“Because you see it gets in the lungs and does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me.”
The makers of Lysol and Dettol were immediately forced to warn people not to attempt drinking or ingesting its products, confirming it had actually received inquiries.
“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” a statement from Reckitt Benckiser warned.
In the Onion article, “area man Troy Mitchell” tells the site: “I got toilet bowl cleaner, carpet cleaner, Swiffer WetJet refills — you name it — just so me and my family will be ready if the president announces one of these things can treat Chinese virus.”
the onion is less satire and more full-blown prophetic scripture rn pic.twitter.com/eLB1bT3mMQ
— SheRa Marley, but far away (@SheRa_Marley) April 24, 2020
The Onion was NEVER fake news. It’s just news written by a time traveler with a horrible sense of humor. https://t.co/mVYANRAn32
— LaBlaq, your favorite #ComicBookBabe 💋🌟 (@LoveAndShalom) April 24, 2020
The Onion announced it will close its publication citing its writers can no longer come up with anything more absurd than actual fucking news.
— Rebecca Blanton (@auntievice) April 24, 2020
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