Fake News: World Cup Opening Ceremony NOT To Centre On 380ft Replica of Putin's Cock

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: World Cup Opening Ceremony NOT To Centre On 380ft Replica of Putin's Cock

Will today's World Cup opening ceremony feature a 380 foot replica of President Vladimir Putin's penis? No, that's not true: that story was published by a satirical website. It is not true and you can tell anyone who shared it as real news that there has been a bit of a cock-up.

The satirical article was published on June 14, 2018 by The Daily Mash under the headline "World Cup opening ceremony to centre on 380ft replica of Putin's cock" (archived here). It opened:

TODAY'S World Cup opening ceremony will feature a monstrous replica of Russian president Vladimir Putin's 'magnificent' penis.

The cock, which is accurate in every detail, will enter Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium bellend-first in a blizzard of ticker tape with official mascot Zabivaka the cartoon wolf dancing on top.

After several circuits of the stadium allowing spectators and FIFA dignitaries to admire it from every angle, the grossly outsized member will then be hoisted erect to the sound of Placido Domingo belting out some opera.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail and some of them might have been daft enough to believe it:

World Cup opening ceremony to centre on 380ft replica of Putin's cock

TODAY'S World Cup opening ceremony will feature a monstrous replica of Russian president Vladimir Putin's 'magnificent' penis.

But The Daily Mash is a satirical website from the U.K. which sports following disclaimer on its about page:

About the Daily Mash

The Daily Mash is a satirical website which publishes spoof articles, i.e. it is all made-up and is not intended, in any way whatsoever, to be taken as factual. Glad we've got that sorted.

Their articles are generally quite funny but now and then they get interpreted as real news.

We wrote about thedailymash.co.uk before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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