Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was duped by a satirical news article about country singer Garth Brooks getting booed off stage for being too “woke” at a non-existent festival hosted in a non-existent Texas city.
The fake story Abbott shared, written by “Flagg Eagleton – Patriot,” details Brooks being booed off the stage at the 123rd Annual Texas Country Jamboree in Hambriston, Texas.
But the catch, of course, is that the Texas Country Jamboree isn’t a real event and Hambriston, Texas does not exist.
The story is from a satire website called The Dunning-Kruger Times. If the contents of the story or the name of the website isn’t already a dead giveaway, the site’s “About Us” page states that it’s part of “a network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery.”
“If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined,” the description reads.
Brooks recently got some pushback from his far-right fans when he said he would serve Bud Light — the beer company that right-wingers have been boycotting for months after the company featured trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson — at the bar he plans to open in Nashville.
“Everybody’s got their opinions. But inclusiveness is always going to be me,” Brooks said in an interview. “I think diversity is the answer to the problems that are here and the answer to the problems that are coming. So I love diversity. All-inclusive, so all are welcome. I understand that might not be other people’s opinions, but that’s OK, man.”
“Go woke. Go broke,” Abbott tweeted over the weekend, with a link to the article, referring to Brooks supposedly falling prey to the “woke” mob for his plan to serve a variety of beers at his bar.
“Good job, Texas,” he continued.
After getting caught sharing the fake article, it appears the Texas Governor quickly deleted the tweet, but not before several Twitter users took screenshots of it, including Texas congressman Rep. Greg Casar.
Journalist Christopher Hooks was one of those users. He shared a screenshot of the tweet and followed it up with an excerpt from the story the governor fell for.
“‘We’re not really looking forward to his opening,’ said Nashville Mayor Art Tubolls, ‘we expect there to be a lot of chaos, with leftists swarming the area to flash their fake breasts in front of children.’ Mayor Tubolls doesn’t want his city to be another San Fransisco, where drug addicts poop on veterans regularly before the city Narcans them and gives them free room and board,” the excerpt read.
Obviously, the mayor of Nashville is not Art Tubolls.
The Twitter account for the satire story’s author, Eagleton, also made fun of Abbott, tweeting that the Texas Governor is the highest-level official to fall for one of his stories so far.
Eagleton also responded to a Daily Beast story on the topic.
“My journalisticatin’ is on point, patriots. It’s not my fault they elected a moron,” he wrote.
