While scrolling through my Facebook feed, the first article that jumped out at me was one that claimed Malia Obama got busted buying a whopping 6 pounds of marijuana. About a year ago, a video surfaced of Malia smoking what appeared to be a joint at Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago. Since there was video evidence that proved this claim to be true, I was curious about the drug bust allegations even if they were extreme. I attached the video below.
Once the article loaded I saw that it came from a website called “The Daily News Explorer”. While I had never heard of this particular source before, the photo included in the article should have said something to me about their credibility.
With one quick glance at this photo it is obvious that Malia has been photoshopped in. How is it that she got “busted” but is the only person in the lineup without a mugshot?Before I was even able to read the article in its entirety, I couldn’t help but notice that it had no professional tone whatsoever. Phrases like “Malia was caught buying weed edibles from two of her thug friends as well as enough pot to make thug rapper Snoop Dog look like an amateur, according to sources within Chicago’s elite Drug Task Force” led me to further question the legitimacy of the source. Not only was the phrasing of the article odd and juvenile, but it lacked key details as well. For example, the quote above along with other statements throughout the article failed to list names of anyone involved in this “bust.” In fact, none of the quotes throughout the article had real names along with them, they simply referenced positions like “sources within Chicago’s elite Drug Task Force” and an even more vague “spokesman.” Not only was I unable to find any actual names referenced throughout the actual article itself, but there was no author’s name listed either. The article also omitted details such as the time and day that the “bust” took place.
Without having to do much more research with fact checking websites, I was able to confirm that my initial instinct was correct and this article was in fact, untrue. With a quick google search, snopes.com, and politifact.com, both found the story to be fake news. According to snopes.com, the article originated on a site called “The Last Line of Defense” and claimed that Malia was caught and arrested along with a gang of older men for drinking, doing drugs, and dogfighting at a park in Chicago. The site went on to claim that Malia was arrested along with seven others and charged with endangerment of animals, public intoxication and possession of a controlled substance. Snopes also explained that the picture being used in these articles was a photograph of an actual dogfighting ring bust in 2013 which was edited to include a picture of Malia’s face in place of one of the original convicted men.
More recently, in the beginning of August, a similar article to the one that I came across was posted on a website called “The Land of the Free” changing the dogfighting claims to those stating Malia was caught purchasing 6 pounds of marijuana. No matter the claims, it is safe to say we can throw this story in the trash.
Jennifer Placendo 