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Conservatives are once again outraged over something they either made up or were easily fooled into believing.
Recently, an image has been making rounds on the internet depicting the mascots from Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal—only something is different.
In the viral image, Pop—the purple-haired elven mascot for the popular cereal—is shown with long hair, prominent eyelashes and rosy cheeks.
Along with this image came a spoof CNN headline claiming cereal conglomerate Kellogg's made Pop a transgender woman.
Conservatives, rather than seeing through the image as an obvious hoax, expressed outrage over the idea of Pop being transgender and blamed the change on millennial "woke" culture.
\u201cthe woke mob strikes again\u201d— \ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud83d\udd2a (@\ud835\udc12\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1a\ud83d\udd2a) 1653057730
Pop has NOT been made transgender by Kellogg's, and the outrage conservatives are displaying is, once again, due to their own conspiracy theories.
According to several fact-checking websites, the image first appeared on the far-right message board 4-chan.
\u201cSocial media users widely and enthusiastically shared what appeared to be a screenshot of a genuine CNN article, but was in fact a fabrication. The fake headline read, "Kellogg\u2019s spokesperson announces Rice Krispie mascot \u2018Pop\u2019 is now a trans woman." https://t.co/wWGHHTHstZ\u201d— snopes.com (@snopes.com) 1653803203
Still, conservatives are choosing to die on this hill and continue to attack Kellogg's for a hoax they made up.
Kellogg's spokesperson Kris Bahner confirmed the story is indeed false.
They said:
“We have made no changes to the Rice Krispies mascots, Snap, Crackle and Pop."
While Kellogg's has not made Pop trans, they did celebrate Pride month in 2021 with "Together with Pride"—a limited-edition cereal.
\u201cKellogg's Together with Pride Cereal has landed! It's certainly colorful, but much like the efforts of any corporation trying to be woke\u2014especially when you're required to sign up for Kellogg's Family Rewards just to turn your purchase into a donation\u2014it tastes a little hollow.\u201d— Cerealously \ud83e\udd5b\ud83e\udd63 (@Cerealously \ud83e\udd5b\ud83e\udd63) 1620754845
This campaign also drew criticism from conservatives.
NewsMax host Grant Stinchfield went on a homophobic tirade against the campaign, but seemed more obsessed with the sexuality of a cartoon leprechaun.
He said:
“General Mills has, I think General Mills has a gay leprechaun, right?”
“Well, my producer Carly asked me, ‘Is that leprechaun really gay?’ I said I don’t know, maybe: he wears high-heeled shoes, prances around in tights, leads me to believe, probably, that little Lucky Charm leprechaun might be gay.”
Stinchfield tried to suggest General Mills beat out Kellogg's by making the Lucky Charms leprechaun gay.
He said:
“The cereal is Rainbow hearts, covered in edible glitter. How nice."
“Give me a break. Here’s the worst part, the cereal slogan, ‘Too amazing to put into a box,’ and then lists a space for kids to write in their own pronouns. Seriously.”
He continued:
“For those of you that want to vilify me for those comments right, right there, aren’t you just as offended by the flamboyant rainbow hearts and glitter as a symbol of gayness? See, there are two standards here.”
Twitter users are howling over conservatives being mad over a conspiracy theory they started.
\u201cConservatives are getting upset over a fake story claiming that Kellogg\u2019s has made Rice Krispies mascot \u201cPop\u201d a \u201ctrans woman.\u201d\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201cCan anyone post the link to the actual article? Or y\u2019all just gonna let a fake screenshot keep getting y\u2019all this butthurt? \ud83e\udd27\u201d— Andy Jaide (@Andy Jaide) 1653250165
\u201cYall will literally believe any screenshot yall see on the internet with a news headline\u201d— Openly Black Alexis\u2643 (@Openly Black Alexis\u2643) 1653245434
\u201c@patriottakes The same people always shouting "FAKE NEWS!" are the first ones to fall for it when it actually is fake.\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201c@patriottakes They want to be upset\nThey need to be upset\nThey have to be upset \n\n*doesn\u2019t matter what they are upset about (true or false) just that they are upset\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201c@patriottakes If maga can't get upset over fake assertions about CRT in school, fake q conspiracies, fake trans cereal box characters and the footwear of candy, what would they do with themselves? I wonder if they'll film the Rice Krispies bonfire/pray-the-gay-away ritual they're gonna have.\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201c@patriottakes They want to be outraged and are always looking for something to be outraged about\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201c@patriottakes Shiny Object Syndrome. That'll keep them busy and out of the voting booths for awhile.\u201d— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1653318770
\u201cYou can send these snowflakes into melt down so easily these days\u201d— Ant-ifa Commander, a real thing (@Ant-ifa Commander, a real thing) 1653340674
\u201cPeople getting enraged over completely fabricated stories is a whole new level of disinformation. America needs critical thinking\u201d— Furfunz28 (@Furfunz28) 1653321159
Kellogg's has not announced their intention to change the Rice Krispies mascots in any way.