Oh CNN… what’s happening over there??
LOLz, we like to tease those over at the world’s oldest and most well-respected cable news network, but this time they really screwed the pooch!
Most folks celebrated the extra-long holiday weekend with delicious food, extra naps, and perhaps a frosty adult beverage, but avid readers of CNN.com were perhaps not quite so lucky!
That’s because the online new outlet published a user-submitted article stating that a huge friggin’ asteroid was headed straight for the Earth and there was a 49% chance mankind would be wiped out in approximately 27 years.
The story, which ran for over 24 hours, warned:
“…Astronomers have placed the odds of an impact at 1 in 2.04, which is by far the most unprecedented risk ever faced to humanity, let alone from asteroids. Such an impact could potentially end civilization as we know it.”
Civilization is ending?!?! What?! It’s time to stock up on bottled water, Spam, and 27-years-worth of oil-based lubricants because we’re not going down without a… Wait… It’s just a false alarm!
As it turns out, CNN’s online news story was bogus!!!
It was a hoax article that slipped by the crack team in charge of CNN’s iReport desk… and managed to stay on their previously trusted news site for over 24 hours.
Phew, everyone will be fine after all! Well, maybe not everyone. The copy editors at CNN.com might be sending out resumes soon.
We’re just happy so few folks take CNN seriously anymore, otherwise more people might’ve reacted like the world really was ending! We shudder to think what could’ve happened!
All eyes are on you, Wolf Blitzer. Step up your game!
[Image via CNN.com.]