Q: Did Katie Couric cancel an interview with Hillary Clinton because Clinton called former President Barack Obama a racial slur?
A: Clinton did no such thing. Those claims were made-up by a satirical website.
FULL QUESTION
Did Katie Couric cancel an interview with Hillary Clinton as reported by Fresh Daily News on Aug. 24, 2017? Article states Clinton interview was to air on Couric’s Sunday Program.
FULL ANSWER
Facebook users have flagged a fake news story that was published on several different websites under the headline: “Katie Couric Speaks Out On Canceling Clinton Interview: ‘It Was Over When She Called Him The N Word.'” A number of FactCheck.org readers have asked about it as well.
The story falsely claims that Clinton called former President Barack Obama a racial slur.
“Katie Couric has come out publicly and corroborated the story of a fired sound tech who clearly heard Hillary Clinton use the ‘N’ word and refused to remain quiet,” the story says.
“Couric was so offended she refused to continue [the interview].”
None of that happened. Couric was never scheduled to interview Clinton in the first place.
The story originated on ourlandofthefree.com, a prolific satirical website. A disclaimer on its “about us” page says: “Ourlandofthefree.com makes no guarantee that anything you find here will be based at all in reality. All posts should be considered satirical and all images photoshopped to look like something they’re not. It’s not you, it’s me.”
Readers may notice that the bogus story doesn’t say when the alleged interview was supposed to take place. It also claims that Couric works for CBS, which hasn’t been true since 2011.
Couric is currently planning to work on a “project basis” with Oath — a division of Verizon that combined Yahoo and AOL. Most recently, Couric was the global news anchor for Yahoo News until her contract expired at the end of June.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to help identify and label viral fake news stories flagged by readers on the social media network.
Sources
“Katie Couric Speaks Out On Canceling Clinton Interview: ‘It Was Over When She Called Him The N Word.’” Americanspoliticnews.info. Accessed 30 Aug 2017.
“Katie Couric Speaks Out On Canceling Clinton Interview: ‘It Was Over When She Called Him The N Word.’” Dailypostfeed.com. 24 Aug 2017.
Admin. “Katie Couric Speaks Out On Canceling Clinton Interview: ‘It Was Over When She Called Him The N Word.’” Mcmreport.com. 27 Aug 2017.
Rao, Lena. “Katie Couric: I did too much too soon at CBS.” Fortune. 12 Oct 2015.
Spangler, Todd. “Katie Couric Is Exiting as Yahoo’s Global News Anchor.” Variety. 28 Jul 2017.
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