Wealthy filmmaker Michael Moore and Rainn Wilson, an actor best known for his role in the American version of “The Office,” referenced a parody article at The Onion in tweets on Wednesday, duping a number of their followers, Twitchy reported.
“NRA Sets 1,000 Killed In School Shooting As Amount It Would Take For Them To Reconsider Much Of Anything,” Wilson tweeted, without mentioning the source of the article. He did provide a link to it, however.
“[W]ow, just wow. I don’t know what else to say. One THOUSAND precious lives need to be wasted first??” one person asked.
“[W]ay to dare America #NRA #really?” added another follower.
“Wow. Guess 900 is just fine,” said “Andy C.”
“Hard to finish reading it,” another person tweeted. “Makes me so angry that people can be so stupid and ignorant. Makes me grateful to be Canadian.”
The message has been re-tweeted 127 times.
Some told Wilson that The Onion is a parody site, but to no avail.
Unlike Wilson, Moore referenced The Onion, but, Twitchy said, he failed to tell followers the article is fake.
“Harry Reid may not have a number of how many dead kids it’ll take before he acts, but The Onion says the NRA has one,” he tweeted.
“Keep up the pressure Mike,” said “Chicago Sports.”
Another user called Moore a “joke” for using The Onion to advance gun control, and another person took Moore to task for not being concerned about children aborted by Planned Parenthood.
“National Rifle Association Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre said Monday that somewhere around 1,000 kids would have to die in a school shooting in order for the organization to reconsider their longstanding opposition to gun control,” The Onion said in an article from May 2012.
