Not Real News: A look at what didn't happen this week

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

CLAIM: Photos show the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washingon, D.C., marred by graffiti as a result of riots after the death of George Floyd.

THE FACTS: The photos circulating on social media show a Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica in Los Angeles after it was defaced in 2016. Posts featuring the misidentified photo were viewed thousands of times on social media on Wednesday, with comments expressing outrage about the damage. “The Vietnam Memorial defaced by rioters,” read one Facebook post with nearly 80,000 views. “Total disrespect! There are just no words to express my outrage. This wall honors those who gave their last measure of devotion.” “The Vietnam Memorial?! Really? Are you still for the cause?!” read another. But a reverse image search of the photos being shared online revealed they show a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Venice, Los Angeles. They also aren’t current. The graffiti pictured appeared at the Los Angeles site in 2016 and has since been scrubbed off. The Associated Press reported in 2017 on the sentencing of the man who vandalized the Los Angeles replica. He was sentenced to four years in state prison. But other monuments in the nation’s capital, including the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II memorial, have been damaged during protests following the death of George Floyd, a black resident of Minneapolis. He died after a white officer held him to the ground with his knee on his neck for several minutes, even as he said he couldn’t breathe, during an arrest on May 25.

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CLAIM: Photo shows all the exterior and interior lights out at the White House on Sunday night, as President Donald Trump hid in a bunker.

THE FACTS: An image shared thousands of times online that appears to show all the lights out in and around the White House was taken before Trump even assumed office. AP photographs taken Sunday night show the front of the White House illuminated by exterior lights and the portico lantern turned on, but the mansion’s interior is dark. The viral photo, which has been edited, can be found on Getty Image’s stock website, where it was uploaded in December 2015. In the original, the lantern hanging in the White House portico is lit, along with several lights that surround the fountain in the front lawn. The edited version that is being widely shared online has been darkened, and edited to black out the lit lantern. Dozens of social media users shared the edited 2015 photo, claiming it showed the White House on Sunday night. “Lights out at #WhiteHouse is a powerful symbol,” one Twitter user wrote. Others claim it showed the White House on Sunday night as Trump took shelter in a bunker. The Associated Press reported that Secret Service agents rushed the president to a White House bunker Friday night, as hundreds of protesters surrounded the executive mansion.


Read more: https://apnews.com/17fbf84d509d00010c9acbc070cb8369