The Actual Stories Behind 5 Huge Social Media Outrages

5

No, Instagram Influencers Didn't Flock To Chernobyl

Professional "influencers" are now greeted with the kind of loathing previously reserved for jobs like "pony strangler" or "lawyer." So a recent story about Instagrammers taking inappropriate pics inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone sparked a predictable amount of outrage. We're talking about the site of the worst nuclear accident in history, not to mention the graveyard of several brave workers. We can't let that become yet another backdrop for soft-lit selfies intended to promote trendy berries or start a feud with Chrissy Teigen.

Instagram, Via Reddit"There is no greater tribute to the victims who died here than my exposed ass."

But while the story was outrageous, it wasn't really true. The whole thing was started by a random Twitter user with a couple thousand followers, who posted a since-deleted compilation of a few shots they claimed influencers had marked as taken in Pripyat -- the ghost town located around Chernobyl. The most shocking photo, of a woman dropping a protective suit to reveal undergarments woefully insufficient to prevent radiation poisoning, was in fact taken 2,000 miles away. Another had a caption indicating it was taken during Men's Fashion Week in London.

Also, most of the people in the photos weren't influencers -- not even aspiring ones. One of the women pictured in the original tweet was a Ukrainian local with just 204 followers who said she had visited Chernobyl to pay her respects. It seems unlikely that she hoped her long post about history would get her invited to collab with James Charles. Another of the original photos was taken way back in 2010, when Instagram was still competing for startup capital with an app that told you which $#*! My Dad Says character was hottest.

Still, sites needed to gobble up those outrage clicks before everyone got bored, so this got breathless coverage in outlets like Vanity Fair, BuzzFeed, The Independent, and so on. Anyway, that's the world we have now. Love it or go live in a cave. (Please invite us to your cave.)

4

No, The Tax Bill Didn't Screw You Out Of A Refund

When tax refunds came in this year, many Americans were surprised to see them smaller than usual. Blame went to the recent tax bill, which was seen as a GOP scam to give their cronies all our money. Trump opponents in general shared this idea, but so did many Trump supporters who were bitter over their own underwhelming refunds. Sometimes schadenfreude comes at a premium.

3

No, NASA Isn't Refusing To Make Spacesuits For Women

This past March, astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch had made plans to take a little spacewalk together, which would have been the first all-female spacewalk in history. Sadly, it turned out there weren't enough female suits for them to use, so McClain had to stay cooped up while some random dude went out in her place. Truly, said the peanut gallery, this spacesuit shortage was emblematic of the sexism that pervades the world -- nay, the Solar System!

We include this only because it's exactly as accurate as the myriad "serious" hot takes on the topic.

But here's the thing: No one makes women's spacesuits. They don't make men's, either. Suits are modular, and parts have sizes. In fact, McClain had previously worn two sizes of torsos, medium and large. In her recent spacewalk, she'd worn medium and found it to be the most comfortable, so when another astronaut who wore medium came aboard and there was only one medium torso available, McClain made the recommendation that she be swapped out for a large-wearing (male) astronaut rather than go out wearing the large suit herself. No one forced her.

2

No, Joe Russo Didn't Take Personal Revenge On Tony Stark

When fans found out that Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo had filmed an appearance on The Tonight Show in July 2019, they were going to find a reason to be mad at him, but no one expected it to be a good one. Apparently, Russo admitted that not only had he singlehandedly been the one behind killing off Tony Stark, but it was because he had a personal grudge against the character going all the way back to the first Avengers film.

YahooWe had no idea RDJ's contract expiring was so mired in revenge.

1

No, Trump Rallies Didn't Cause Hate Crimes To Triple

It's not exactly a leap to suggest that a public figure who campaigns primarily on racism and xenophobia might somehow encourage racism and xenophobia, so we sent some people to study it. We didn't check their credentials too closely, but they let us have some of their beer, so they seemed cool. They came back with a shocking statistic: During the 2016 election, counties which hosted Trump rallies saw a 226% rise in hate crimes, and oh man, that is not cool. Bernie Sanders shared the statistic in convenient meme form: