Q: Did Hulu cancel a Michelle Wolf comedy special because of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner?
A: No. That claim originated on a self-described satire website. There’s no evidence Wolf was scheduled to do a special for Hulu.
FULL ANSWER
The controversy surrounding comedian Michelle Wolf’s remarks at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 28 has spawned several false stories.
We recently wrote about one that wrongly claimed she had been fired from Comedy Central.
A similar story, claiming that Hulu cancelled a comedy special starring Wolf, has also been circulating on Facebook. Users of the social media site were right to flag that one as potentially false, too. It’s not true.
Like the story that claimed Comedy Central fired Wolf, the story about Hulu originated on a website called Daily World Update, which describes its content as satire. But the story has been copied by at least one other site that doesn’t have a disclaimer and presents it as news.
Not only is the story made-up, some of the people named in it are made-up, as well. The story quotes “Hulu President Irwin R. Fletcher,” but Hulu doesn’t have a president. It has a CEO whose name is Randy Freer, and Irwin Fletcher is the name of the title character in the 1985 movie, “Fletch.”
The made-up story claims, “Wolf has been defending her disgusting remarks, but has not yet commented on the cancellation of the show she has spent so much time promoting.”
But there’s no evidence that Wolf had plans to do a comedy special on Hulu, which she did not promote on her website or on Twitter. Her HBO special aired in December, and her weekly Netflix series debuts May 27.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk false stories flagged by readers on the social media network.
Sources
C-Span. “Michelle Wolf COMPLETE REMARKS at 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” YouTube. 28 Apr 2018.
“BREAKING: Hulu Cancels Michelle Wolf’s Standup Special After Disgustisting Attacks.” DailyWorldUpdate.us. 29 Apr 2018.
“Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady.” HBO.com. Accessed 2 May 2018.
Netflix. “The Break with Michelle Wolf Comes to Netflix on May 27.” 11 Apr 2018.
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