The New York Post prematurely published an obituary for former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday after a letter that appeared to be from his estate went viral on social media.
The article, which was online for about 15 minutes, resembled a pre-written obituary that was ready to be published the moment the news outlet learned of his passing, according to a copy of the write-up reviewed by The Desk before it was pulled.
The write-up did not reference the letter that circulated on X, which contained numerous typos and obvious satirical quotes, including one that referred to Carter’s late wife Rosalynn as a “baddie” and former First Lady Nancy Reagan as a “throat goat.” The letter also included a false quote attributed to Carter’s son, Chip Carter, that claimed part of his father’s legacy would be his “peace-through-weakness agenda.”
The letter referenced a purported tribute website for Carter that contained a .org suffix, which is commonly used with not-for-profit organizations, but not exclusively reserved for that purpose. The address redirected to a web application that was offline as of Tuesday afternoon.
The New York Post has deleted a story that initially reported former President Jimmy Carter had died.
The post may have been based on a viral letter that included the line: “Rosalynn was a baddie. Jill, Melania, even throat goat Nancy Reagan had nothing on Rosalynn.” pic.twitter.com/2GLWGyTVfw
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) July 23, 2024
A spokesperson for the Carter Center in Georgia affirmed the letter was a hoax. Carter is currently living at a hospice center in Plains, Georgia; his 100th birthday will be celebrated this coming October.
The Post published the obituary after a social media editor alerted the newsroom to the letter on X, according to a person who works at the publication and who spoke with The Desk on condition of anonymity. After a staffer raised concerns about some of the information in the letter, the obituary was quickly pulled pending additional verification, the source said.
The newspaper has not public addressed why it published the obituary prematurely. Erin Geismar, the online editor for the New York Post, did not return an email from The Desk seeking clarification by publication time.
The Post was not the only publication to be fooled by the fake newsletter: The Radio and Television Business Report (RBR+TVBR) reposted a copy of the letter published by crypto enthusiast Sulaiman Ahmed of International Blockchain Consulting (IBC), who lists himself as a “journalist.” Ahmed later amended his post, and RBR+TVBR removed the repost after being contacted by The Desk Tuesday morning. In a follow-up post on X, RBR+TVBR editor Adam Jacobson wrote that the publication would be “monitoring the situation,” then noted iHeartMedia-owned talk station KFI (640 AM) published the same false information.
It wasn’t just news publications that were fooled by the fake letter: At least one federal lawmaker was too. The official X account for Senator Mike Lee of Utah retweeted a copy of the note that wrongly claimed Carter had died, only to withdraw the post about 10 minutes later.
