The ghost of Nazism has haunted American politics in the past few years, with public figures comparing Donald Trump to Hitler, his rallies likened to those organised by the German during his rise to power.
In recent weeks, pop star Kanye West fanned the flames of antisemitism in public too, with a series of comments which has led to him being dropped by multiple fashion labels and associates.
So when a social media post went viral about a gay porn star beating up nearly three dozen neo-Nazis, it appeared to tap into raw anxiety about the modern face and influence of fascism.
The Claim
Multiple posts across Twitter and Reddit, posted on October 24-25, 2022, claimed that a gay porn star called Brandon Cummings "From The Famous 'Let's Go Brandon' Series Of Male On Male Porn" was arrested after beating up 35 Neo-Nazis.
Cumulatively, between Twitter and Reddit, the story has received at least half a million engagements in less than 24 hours.
The Facts
The response to this unusual headline has been a mix of bemusement and congratulation, with a number of Twitter users hailing "Brandon Cummings" fight against fascists.
Political commentator Mueller, She Wrote, who has more than 382,000 followers on Twitter, wrote "Not all heroes wear clothes" in response to the story, a play on the phrase "Not all heroes wears capes" used to denote acts of ordinary bravery.
However, while many praised Mr Cummings violent actions, the headline and story attached to it is complete hokum.
The screengrab came from a website called Daily News Reported, which describes itself as "a fabricated satirical newspaper and comedy website."
"Daily News Reported uses invented names in all its stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized," it adds.
"Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental."
The full Daily News Reported article is a bizarre and strangely written news parody that is much more clearly identifiable as artifice than the headline.
For a start, it begins by renaming the character in the headline to "Brandon Parker" and claims that the "Let's Go Brandon" chant has nothing to do with Joe Biden and and is instead the name of a series of adult films.
"Let's Go Brandon" is a mocking slogan used among Trump supporters which evolved from a curse-laden taunt of president Joe Biden.
"He is so successful as an adult actor that flags and bumper stickers can be seen throughout our great country in support of his celebrity and contributions to society as a whole," it reads.
It goes on to describe how "Brandon....formulated a plan of attack" and how he knew "that these hate groups are really just full of people who are afraid and scared of a world where they are left out and left behind with their antiquated and moronic life views."
As far as our research has shown, there is no Let's Go Brandon series of gay adult films either nor does there appear to be a porn star called "Brandon Cummings." While there is an gay adult film star called Brandon Parker, he has no likeness to the photo in the article.
While the person in the photo has not been identified, their mugshot has been circulated online for several years in articles about attractive criminals and in online forums since at least 2014.
Although Daily News Reported claims to be a "satirical" and "comedy" website, and most of its content is outlandish, some of its articles are far more like real news stories and appear to have little comedic about them.
Such inconsistency begs the question whether its content is meant to be comedic or that it simply uses that description to avoid it being labelled deliberately misinformative.
While it's not clear exactly why this fake story became so popular, a number of terms within it relate to the current news cycle and news terms elsewhere.
As mentioned, Kanye West's recent antisemitic comments have not only shocked his audience but led other disturbing actions, such as hate group the Goyim Defense League hanging a banner reading "Kanye is right about the Jews" over the Interstate 405 in Los Angeles.
While we cannot say for certain whether this was the case, increases in online searches Nazis and antisemitism, combined with "Let's Go Brandon" and associated interest around the midterms, may have inspired whoever is behind it to resurface the article.
In any case, the headline and content of the associated article is completely made-up. Although some of the content on the Daily News Reported blurs the line between what it describes as "satirical" writing and fake news, the story-telling behind this particular story was clearly intended to be humorous.
The Ruling
Satire.
The post was created by a parody site, Daily News Reported, which regularly creates ludicrous and lewd stories in the style of regular news.
The person in the photo is an unidentified male whose photo has been circulated online for several years. It appears there is no Brandon Cummings who has worked on a "Let's Go Brandon" adult film series.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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