Snopes’ Latest Fact-Check of AOC ‘Rumor’ Proves Once and For All Who Its Readers Are

“Officially the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen on Snopes.”

Fact-checking website Snopes confirmed to readers via a nearly 1,000-word piece last week that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was in fact “scared” by her garbage disposal.

After “Much ado” was made earlier this month about an Instagram video in which the freshman congresswoman “appeared unfamiliar with in-sink garbage disposals,” conservative outlets and social media commenters mocked Ocasio-Cortez for her “lack of garbage-disposal knowledge.”

According to Snopes, some readers wondered if they were being hoaxed, perhaps finding it difficult to believe a grown woman could really be that unfamiliar with a common home-kitchen appliance.

But as Snopes writer Dan Evon sussed out, this wasn’t a case of fake news. Snopes slapped a “True” rating on the “rumor,” but alerted readers that a “parody version” of the Ocasio-Cortez video is also out there.

“While the video of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez expressing shock over the existence of garbage disposals is genuine, viewers should be aware at least one parody version of this video is circulating on social media that features an Ocasio-Cortez lookalike expressing her disbelief over other household appliances,” Evon wrote.

Snopes also parroted Ocasio-Cortez’s justification for why she was “so baffled by the existence of garbage disposals.”

WATCH HERE:

“Garbage disposals were banned in most of New York City in the early 1970s as officials feared that the appliance would wreak havoc on the city’s plumbing system, but the ban was finally lifted in 1997, giving homeowners the legal ability to install such appliances. A contemporaneous report from the Associated Press, however, noted that the cost of installing a new garbage disposal deterred many New Yorkers from retrofitting their sinks,” Evon explained.

Evon even countered the counter-argument Ocasio-Cortez’s critics used to cast doubts on her explanation.

“While garbage disposals are currently legal in NYC residential units, they are still illegal in commercial establishments. This is especially noteworthy, as some of AOC’s critics used the congresswoman’s previous experience as a bartender to claim that she was lying about her unfamiliarity with garbage disposals,” he wrote.

Some commenters on social media found Snopes’ fact-check absurd.

“Officially the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen on Snopes: Was U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez ‘Scared’ by Her Garbage Disposal? Fact Check: True,” tweeted one supporter of President Donald Trump.

Officially the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen on Snopes:

Was U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez ‘Scared’ by Her Garbage Disposal?

Fact Check: True pic.twitter.com/y9YGMTYKgk

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) May 15, 2019

It’s not the first time Snopes has unintentionally functioned as a source of comedy for conservatives.

The hoax watchdog was widely ridiculed last month for performing one of its infamous fact-checks on a satirical article that claimed Ocasio-Cortez guessed “free” during an appearance on iconic gameshow “The Price Is Right.”

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