The byline visible in what looks like a screenshot of a news article that people have been sharing online suggests that what you are about to read is a joke.
Supposedly an opinion piece by Charlie DeClown published on CNN’s website, the headline says: “In And Out is the fast food of white supremacists.”
But people commenting on one post weren’t so sure.
“CNN trying to get slapped with another lawsuit,” someone wrote.
“Stop is this real!” someone else said.
It’s not. This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
The In-N-Out Burger misspelling aside, this headline doesn’t appear on CNN’s website, nor the name “Charlie DeClown.”
Searching the Internet more broadly, we only found it on meme websites.
The burger chain has been in the news lately for refusing to comply with a local vaccine mandate in Contra Costa County, Calif.
“We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government,” In-N-Out’s chief legal and business officer said in a statement quoted in the Los Angeles Times.
We rate claims that this is a real CNN headline Pants on Fire.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. It is republished here with permission. See the sources for this fact check here and more of their fact checks here.
