Satire: Knope Caught With 8,000 Ballots
The Claim
Democratic Senator Knope was caught with 8,000 mail-in ballots.
News posted on
Emerging story
Leading up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, many social media users shared the claim that Democratic Senator Knope was caught with 8,000 mail-in ballots. Some called out the Biden/Harris campaign as being “busted,” while others asked President Donald Trump to arrest Knope.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Leslie Knope is a famously over-achieving government employee, portrayed by Amy Poehler, in the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation. She is not a real Senator.
If anyone reposting the article had taken the time to actually read it, they would quickly discover that it is satire. The article was first published on Potatriots Unite, a subsidiary of well-known satire site America’s Last Line of Defense. In their “About Us” page, they call their work “parody, satire, and tomfoolery.”
Further, the article itself clearly reads as satire. It references Ron Swanson, another well-known character from the show, and even makes a joke about comedian Louis C.K., who appeared on the show.
The Parks and Recreation writing staff did release an open letter attributed to Knope following the 2016 election. However, neither the actor nor the character was caught with 8,000 ballots.
