Add The New York Post on Google CNN got duped by a notorious parody account after mistakenly airing a fake Republican congressman’s fabricated account of a phone call with hospitalized Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
During Wednesday’s edition of “CNN This Morning,” anchor Audie Cornish introduced a series of statements from Republicans who said they had recently spoken with the 84-year-old McConnell, who has been hospitalized since mid-June and has not appeared in public since then.
“We’re going to just show some on screen,” Cornish said.
“All saying, I talked to him, I talked to him, I talked to him for 20 minutes, I talked to him for 45 minutes.”
Alongside legitimate comments from CNN contributor Scott Jennings and statements attributed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the network also displayed a post from the X account @RepJackKimble.
There was just one problem: Rep. Jack Kimble does not exist.
The account is a long-running political parody that claims to represent California’s fictional 54th congressional district — in reality, the state has 52 House districts.
The fake lawmaker’s post initially resembled genuine messages from Republican lawmakers before veering into obvious satire.
“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky,” the account wrote.
“He’s so sharp. Just like always he let me do all of the talking.”
The post continued: “After that we prayed silently for awhile and had a staring contest. Just like always, he beat me.”
The account’s biography also identifies its owner as the “co-sponsor of Poe’s Law,” a reference to the internet adage that parodies of extreme political views are often mistaken for genuine statements unless clearly marked as satire.
The account has a history of fooling media outlets.
According to the author’s Amazon biography, the fictional congressman is “the brainchild of a Chicago school teacher” who launched the character in 2009 and previously duped both the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.
Asked for comment, a CNN spokesperson referred The Post to the network’s acknowledgement of the embarrassing mistake at the top of Thursday’s broadcast.
“Yesterday on the show, we displayed quotes from a Republican about Senator Mitch McConnell’s stay in the hospital,” Cornish said.
I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 45 minutes. He's so sharp. Just like always he let me do all of the talking. He's a great listener. After that we prayed…
“One of them was mistakenly taken from a parody account on Twitter. Now obviously we should not have done that and we regret the error.”
The latest blunder came as questions continue to swirl over McConnell’s health.
The retiring Kentucky Republican has remained out of public view for weeks while recovering in the hospital.
His office has said only that he “continues to improve” and is working with staff on Senate and Kentucky matters.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Dem, this week urged McConnell to provide a fuller update on his condition, saying ongoing speculation was unfair both to the senator and to Kentuckians.
After CNN aired the parody post, the Jack Kimble account mocked the network on X with a series of tongue-in-cheek messages poking fun at the on-air mistake.
“How dare they doubt my credibility,” he wrote in one X post linking to the gaffe.
In another, he included the screenshot of his X post being broadcast on CNN and wrote in the caption: “CNN’s extreme leftwing bias exposed.”
