Yahoo News sent an incredibly misleading tweet Thursday in an apparent attempt to attack Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie.
Gillespie ran an ad promising to rid Virginia of the drug-running, murderous MS-13 gang. One portion of the ad features heavily tattooed MS-13 members with their own motto, “Rape, Kill Control.”
But when Yahoo tweeted about the ad, they only identified those pictured as “heavily tattooed Latino men” and attributed the “Rape, Kill, Control” motto to Gillespie.
GOP candidate airs ad featuring heavily tattooed Latino men with the words “RAPE, KILL, CONTROL” on screen https://t.co/byhdQCOubv pic.twitter.com/TkGAEQr36E
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) October 18, 2017
Twitter users quickly pointed out Yahoo’s apparent ignorance.
Because…they are MS-13 members?WTF is wrong with the media?Actually, I’m a latino, but of course, I don’t want those people on the streets
— Courageous Nation (@courageousUSA) October 18, 2017
so, i was doing some research and it turns out ms-13 is hispanic. who knew?
— Ryan (@alwaysonoffense) October 18, 2017
“Rape, Kill, Control” is LITERALLY the motto of ms-13. So libs now defend the indefensible. Clueless morons.
— Eire (@SouthPawDan) October 18, 2017
You misspelled “featuring MS-13 gang members and their motto”, you hacks.
— Patrick-or-Treat (@jd2319) October 18, 2017
Either you didn’t know that was MS-13s motto and ignorantly ran this, or you did and knowingly lied. Either way, you are #FakeNews
— American Hero (@trueholygoat) October 18, 2017
The article linked to in the tweet does mention that the “Latino men” featured in the ad are members of MS-13, but not until the 6th paragraph–and the first mention is in a quote from a Gillespie supporter, not from the author himself.
When the author does finally bring up MS-13, he accuses Gillespie of showing the gang members to stoke racial tension and anti-immigration sentiments.
“…it’s hard to imagine Gillespie running an ad like his MS-13 spot a few years ago, because for over a decade he’s been a leader of the Republican effort to bring Latinos into the GOP and tone down anti-immigration rhetoric,” Jon Ward, a senior political correspondent for Yahoo News, writes.
In the over-2000 word article, MS-13 is mentioned just five times, three of which are in quotes by other people. Meanwhile, the word “Latino” was mentioned nine times and “immigrant” and “immigration” are mentioned 11 times.