Senator McCain's Office Responds To Internet Hoax: Senator John McCain Comments Of Puerto Rican J.J. Barea

Senator McCain's office has issued a response to the internet hoax story, that had Senator John McCain, questioning Puerto Rican NBA champion, J.J. Barea United States citizenship.  As Puerto Rico Is The Place reported earlier, the internet blog story was a hoax.  Senator McCain's office put out the following statement on senator McCain's official website:

Washington, D.C. ­– Mark Buse, Chief of Staff to Senator John McCain, today issued the following statement on the fictitious story published on the blog IMAGINE 2050:

"The report carried by the blog IMAGINE 2050 is false, malicious, and slanderous. Senator McCain obviously never said these words, and it is unfortunate that such an outrageous and clearly fictitious story would garner so much attention.

"Senator McCain has great appreciation and respect for the people of Puerto Rico, including the nearly four million Puerto Ricans living in the mainland, and for the many that proudly serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

"Finally, as a big sports fan, Senator McCain greatly admires J.J. Barea, and enjoyed watching his performance all of this season and through the NBA Finals. He knows what pride the people of Puerto Rico must feel in their World Champion.
"We appreciate the opportunity to correct the record and make clear that this blog story is a complete fabrication. It is unfortunate if any news organization has run this obviously false story, and we hope they correct the record immediately."
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Many Puerto Ricans were angered and offended, as many believed the story, in the Imagine 2050 website, was true.  Angry and heated responses were exchanged in Facebook, Twitter and other internet websites. The internet hoax story spread over many media outlets: internet, television, and social network.  The hoax, which ran among legitimate news stories, started a couple of petitions, demanding Senator McCain to retract his comments.  As of Friday, change.org, had over 6,000 petitions signed.


Reacting to all the negative attention, the writer of the story, Dan Weiss, added a disclaimer after the blog post in the Imagine 2050 website, making it clear that the story was a joke.  Weiss wrote:


  “ Note: Aside from the quote attributed to Sen. McCain in the first paragraph, this article is blatantly satirical. I don’t know if Senator McCain cares about basketball or is acquainted with J.J Barea. The point of this “funny” blog is to mock the asinine remarks made by McCain about immigrants starting wildfires in Arizona. And if you think about it, which comment made by Senator McCain is more ridiculous? The one I made up about the Senator wanting proof that J.J. Barea is a U.S. citizen? Or the one about undocumented immigrants starting wildfires in Arizona? ”
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I hope that all is clear now, and that we can put this matter to rest.


                                                                                 

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