#CNNBlackmail
Part of a series on Wrestlemania 23: Battle of the Billionaires. [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]
Overview
#CNNBlackmail is a Twitter hashtag used to criticize the cable television news network CNN for threatening to dox a Redditor who posted an edited GIF showing President Donald Trump body-slamming the CNN logo on Reddit in early July 2017. While the Redditor was rumored to be a 15-year-old boy, the claim has been disputed by CNN Senior Editor Andrew Kaczynski.
Background
On June 28th, 2017, Redditor HanAssholeSolo posted an edited clip from Trump's 2007 WrestleMania appearance in which Donald Trump tosses WWE CEO Vince McMahon to the ground and punches him several times. In the post, the CNN logo is shown superimposed over McMahon's face, along with the Fake History title "Trump takes down fake news (Colorized, 2017)". Over the next week, the GIF received upwards of 9,400 points (96% upvoted) and 350 comments on /r/The_Donald.[2] On July 2nd, President Trump tweeted a video version of the GIF along with the hashtags "#FraudNewsCNN" and "FNN." Within 48 hours, the tweet received more than 564,000 likes and 339,000 retweets.
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
β Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Developments
Apology
On July 4th, HanAssholeSolo submitted a post to /r/The_Donald,[7] in which he apologized for the controversy and any bigoted posts he made in the past. The post was subsequently locked by moderators of the subreddit.
"First of all, I would like to apologize to the members of the reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened. I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted, and anti-semitic. I am in no way this kind of person, I love and accept people of all walks of life and have done so for my entire life. I am not the person that the media portrays me to be in real life, I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in those posts. I would never support any kind of violence or actions against others simply for what they believe in, their religion, or the lifestyle they choose to have. Nor would I carry out any violence against anyone based upon that or support anyone who did. The meme was created purely as satire, it was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation. I had no idea anyone would take it and put sound to it and then have it put up on the President's Twitter feed. It was a prank, nothing more. What the President's feed showed was not the original post that was posted here, but loaded up somewhere else and sound added to it then sent out on Twitter. I thought it was the original post that was made and that is why I took credit for it. I have the highest respect for the journalist community and they put their lives on the line every day with the jobs that they do in reporting the news."
Andrew Kaczynski's Investigation
On July 4th, CNN[1] published an article by senior editor Andrew Kaczynski, who claimed he had tracked down the Reddit user who allegedly created the original GIF and threatened to "publish his identity" if he continued to "repeat this ugly behavior on social media again."
On July 5th, Kaczynski tweeted that Redditor HanAssholeSolo is an adult and not a teenage boy as some had reported. On July 5th, the news site Ricochet[8] reported that Kaczynski had previously gained online notoriety for publicizing PR director Justine Sacco's controversial AIDS joke in 2013.
Online Reaction
On July 4th, the hashtag #CNNBlackmail began trending on Twitter, with many criticizing the cable television network for threatening to release HanAssholeSolo's personal information for posting the animated GIF. Meanwhile, photoshopped images and animated GIFs about the controversy began reaching the front page of various subreddits, including /r/dankmemes,[5] /r/cnnmemes[4] and /r/memeeconomy.[6] Meanwhile, various internet users began referring to the backlash against CNN as a "meme war".
Also on July 5th, the Observer[9] published an article by 4chan moderator Jay Irwin titled "#CNNBlackmail: The Press Just Can't Stop Feeding the Trolls," which argued that "CNN -- and thin-skinned, self-righteous media outlets like them -- are the losers in this meme war."
Search Interest
External References
[1] CNN β How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF
[2] Reddit β Trump takes down fake news
[4] Reddit β /r/cnnmemes
[5] Reddit β /r/dankmemes
[6] Reddit β Should I invest in CNN memes
[7] Reddit β To my fellow redditors in this community
[8] Ricochet- Trump Has Driven CNN Stark Raving Mad
[9] Observer β #CNNBlackmail β The Press Just Can't Stop Feeding the Trolls
![CNN Center From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Coordinates: 33.757934Β°N 84.394811 "W The FNN Center is the world headquarters of FNN. The main newsrooms and studios for several of FNN's news channels are located in the building. The facility's commercial office space is occupied entirely by FNN and its parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner since 1996. The FNN Center is located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park. FNN Center Contents hide] 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.1.1 1990s 1.1.2 2000s 1.1.3 2010s 12 Shift away from Atlanta and sale of Omni Hotel 2 Features 2.1 List of stores and restaurants 3 References Aerial view of the FNN Center 4 External links Former Omni Complex (1976-1987) names History edit source ] General information Status Complete Early history [edit source] The FNN Center opened in 1976 as the Omni Complex, which was a development by Cousins Properties. The Omni Coliseum, an NBA and NHL arena directly connected to the Omni Complex, opened 3 years earlier, on October 14, 1972. The Omni Complex largely sat vacant until FNN moved its headquarters there in 1987 from its Midtown Atlanta site (old home of the Progressive Club on 1050 Techwood Drive and home to Turner Broadcasting System) The facility originally offered office space to various business tenants, as well as consulates over the years. The main floor featured an indoor ice skating rink, as well as a small number of restaurants and a Gold Mine video arcade. More famously, Sid and Marty Krofft built an indoor amusement park called The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, inspired by the creations of the popular children's television producers. The park was the first indoor theme park and opened in 1976, but closed within six months. The complex also featured a multi-screen movie theater For years, the theater offered showings of Gone with the Wind, Ted Turner's favorite movie. The theater was replaced during renovations to put in a new newsroom for FNN's website operations. The ice skating rink was filled in and a mosaic map of the world replaced it (featuring brass markers indicating the locations of FNN bureaux around the world). Prior to moving, FNN and Headline News were based in a former country club on Techwood Drive in Midtown Atlanta, sharing the facility with WTBS which currently serves as the campus for nearly all other Turner networks and Turner Studios, the mansion facade also served as the logo for Turner's theatrical and home video arms during the 1990s. When FNN networks moved to the FNN Center on July 13, 1987, FNN Headline News (now known as HLN) was the first network to broadcast a show from it at 3.00 ET with its program # 96,915. Their sister channel started live programming at 6.00 p.m. ET of that day Address 1FNN Center, Atlanta, Georgia, 30303, United States Crnt FNN (1987-present) tenants Opened Owner List of stores and restaurants 1976, 41 years ago City of Atlanta (1976-1987) FNN (1987-present) Design and construction Developer Cousins Properties Website www.fn n centerretail.com](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/272/876/9d0.jpg "#CNNBlackmail")
Top Comments
Mr. Candles
Jul 05, 2017 at 11:11AM EDT
DaMangaka
Jul 05, 2017 at 11:32AM EDT