Sarah Huckabee Sanders #PieGate
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About
Sarah Huckabee Sanders #PieGate refers to a series of jokes regarding a social media post by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. After posting a bird's eye-view photograph of a pie with a white background, many online believed that she had posted a stock photo and claimed it as her own.
Origin
On November 23rd, 2017, Press Secretary Sanders tweeted [1] a picture of a chocolate pecan pie on a white tabletop from a bird's eye perspective. She captioned the post (shown below), "I dont cook much these days, but managed this Chocolate Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving at the family farm!" Within three weeks, the post recevied more than 2,900 retweets, 22,000 likes and 7,000 comments.
Spread
Shortly after Sanders' tweet was posted, many online mocked the picture for resembling a stock photograph, accusing Sanders of lying about her baking skills. The following day, Twitter[2] user @resisterhood posted the same caption with a picture of a stock photo of a chocolate pecan pie. The post (shown below, left) received more than 170 retweets and 1,700 likes in three weeks.
Other Twitter[3] users, such as @theseancollins, accused her of lying, juxtaposing the tweet with one by comedian Nathan Fielder. In the adjacent tweet, Fielder is shown laughing alone with the caption "Out on the town having the time of my life with a bunch of friends. They're all just out of frame, laughing too." The post (shown below, center) received more than 1,400 retweets and 9,100 likes in three weeks.
Another form of the joke included posting pictures of other stock photos and claiming to be the users' own possessions. Twitter[4] user @ThatBoysGood tweeted a stock photo of a state-of-the-art sports car and the caption "l don’t get a chance to work in the garage much these days but i managed to rebuild this engine this week!" The post (shown below, left) received more than 630 retweets and 7,500 likes in three weeks.
The arguments against Sanders' baking the pie reached a peak when Twitter user @VictoriaNamkung accused Sanders of stealing the image from the Public Broadcasting Service.[5] However, it would appear as though she confused the pbs in Twitter's subdomain, pbs.twimg.com, with PBS. Gizmodo debunked this theory, while Twitter user @5kl provided evidence to defend Sanders' baking and posting.[6]
Feud With April D. Ryan
On November 24th, 2017, American Urban Radio Network correspondent April D. Ryan tweeted,[7] "I am not trying to be funny but folks are already saying #piegate and #fakepie Show it to us on the table with folks eating it and a pic of you cooking it. I am getting the biggest laugh out of this. I am thankful for this laugh on Black Friday!" The post (shown below) received more than 2,000 retweets and 8,600 likes in three weeks.
Several weeks later, on December 13th, Sanders responded to Ryan by tweeting[8] a picture of pie ingredients and the caption "It’s pie time! With or without bourbon @AprilDRyan? #piegate." The post (shown below, left) received more than 7,200 retweets and 35,000 likes in two days.
Ryan responded,[19] "Okay I want to see the pics and videos. I will check it tomorrow but won’t eat it!"
Sanders continued to post pictures of baking,[9] concluding with a picture of four pies on a wooden tabletop.[10] She captioned the photography, "Excited to share these at tomorrow’s press potluck. Merry Christmas to the WH press corps!" The post (shown below, right) received more than 5,000 retweets and 24,000 likes in two days.
The following day, Sanders brought her chocolate pecan pie to the White House press corps potluck. Daily Signal White House correspondent Fred Lucas tweeted [11] a picture of Sanders and Ryan holding the pies with the caption, "At White House Christmas basement party, @PressSec and @AprilDRyan declare festive end to #piegate." The post (shown below) received more than 920 retweets and 5,300 likes in 24 hours.
Media Coverage
Several news outlets reported on #PieGate, including CBS,[12] Fox News,[13] NY Daily News,[20] Daily Mail,[21] NewsWeek,[22] CBS News,[23] Salon,[14] USA Today[15] and more.
Twitter published three Moments pages regarding the reaction and controversy regarding #PieGate.[16][17][18]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @PressSec's Tweet
[2] Twitter – @resisterhood's Tweet
[3] Twitter – @theseantcollins' Tweet
[4] Twitter – @ThatBoysGood's Tweet
[5] Gizmodo – No, Sarah Sanders Didn't Steal a Thanksgiving Pie Photo From PBS
[6] Twitter – @5kl's Tweet
[7] Twitter – @AprilDRyan's Tweet
[8] Twitter – @PressSec's Tweet
[9] Twitter – @PressSec's Tweet
[10] Twitter – @PressSec's Tweet
[11] Twitter – @FredLucasWH's Tweet
[12] CBS – White House press secretary Sarah Sanders ends #PieGate
[13] Fox News – #Piegate declared over as Sanders bakes a 'real' winner
[14] Salon – Sarah Huckabee Sanders so very desperately wants you to believe she bakes pies
[15] USA Today – #PieGate ends with Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders bringing pies to press potluck
[16] Twitter – Sarah Sanders baked a real pecan pie and memes ensued
[17] Twitter – Press Secretary Sarah Sanders proves her pie-making abilities
[18] Twitter – Sarah Sanders presents April Ryan with her own pecan pie
[19] Twitter – @AprilDRyan's Tweet
[20] NY Daily News – Sarah Huckabee Sanders puts ‘piegate’ to rest with photographic evidence of her baking process
[21] Daily Mail – White House press secretary Sarah Sanders brings homemade chocolate pecan pies to reporters' party after journalist April Ryan accused her of faking Thanksgiving dessert photo
[22] Newsweek – SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS IS TROLLING THE REPORTER WHO SUGGESTED SHE BAKED A ‘FAKE PIE’
[23] CBS News – White House press secretary Sarah Sanders ends #PieGate
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Top Comments
GuyWithThePie
Dec 16, 2017 at 12:48AM EST
PatrickBateman96
Dec 15, 2017 at 09:07PM EST