Fake News: Trump Did NOT Invite Thai Boys To White House; Boys Did NOT Request To Return To Cave

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Trump Did NOT Invite Thai Boys To White House; Boys Did NOT Request To Return To Cave

Did the Thai boys from the soccer team that was rescued from a flooded cave by divers prefer to go back into the cave instead of having to visit President Donald Trump at the White House at his invitation? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a satirical website. It did not happen for real.

The story originated from an article published by The Burrard Street Journal on July 11, 2018 titled "Trump Invites Thai Boys To White House; Boys Request To Return To Cave" (archived here) which opened:

WASHINGTON, DC--The American President Donald Trump has had his offer to visit the White House rebuffed by the rescued Thai boys, who instead have voted unanimously to return to the watery cave.

The cave which is now over 95% full of water has still been deemed more inviting than the White House especially to young children who would likely be seen as migrants and detained by ICE.

"They've been to hell and back and now you want to send them to another hell? No. These boys have been through enough," said the boys' soccer coach firmly.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

Trump Invites Thai Boys To White House; Boys Request To Return To Cave

President Donald has had his offer to visit the White House rebuffed by the rescued Thai boys, who instead have voted unanimously to return to the cave.

However the site carries following disclaimer so the story was not true at all:

The Burrard Street Journal Disclaimer
If you clicked here then you are probably doubting the legitimacy of one of our articles. Well friend, those are some good instincts, as the Burrard Street Journal is a satire news, parody and humor website and is for entertainment purposes only.

All Burrard Street Journal and Burrard Street Football articles are satire news and entirely fabricated.

Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to sports personalities and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.

Please feel free to copy and paste this disclaimer into you facebook comment to "prove this site's bullshit".

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See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  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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