The headline of a months-old satirical article that says a “Federal Magistrate Approves Kyle Rittenhouse’s $110 Million Defamation Suit Against LeBron James” is circulating online. While the claim was debunked in Dec. 2021, some online users appear to have been recently tricked into believing it is an authentic news report.
A tweet from April 27 with the claim has been retweeted over 3,100 times ( here ) ( archive.ph/DMa91 ).
“Saint Kyle keeps winning,” one Twitter user wrote. ““I hope we can watch this trial live like Depp and Heard,” a second one commented.
Other examples can be seen ( here ) ( here ).
Much like another allegation about a fake Rittenhouse libel lawsuit addressed by Reuters in Nov. 2021 ( here ), this claim appears to have originated from a satirical website.
The website Potatriots Unite published an article with the same headline and cover photos as the screenshots spread online ( here ).
On its About Us page, the website describes itself as being a “subsidiary of the “America’s Last Line of Defense” network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News” ( here ).
Back in Dec. 2021, David Hancock, a spokesperson for the Rittenhouse family, told the Associated Press ( here ) that “The Rittenhouse team, Kyle and the rest of his lawyers, have not filed any legal actions against any organizations or any person in particular.”
Politifact and USATODAY also previously addressed this claim and found it...
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