A report from the satire news website National Report saying a Louisiana man named Paul Horner stopped a “robbery by quoting Pulp Fiction” is fake.
The National Report, which doesn’t have a clear disclaimer, doesn’t publish real news. It’s a site similar to the Onion in that it publishes satire, but unlike the Onion, it can be difficult to tell if the “reports” are real or fake.
“National Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within National Report are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental,” reads a disclaimer on an archived page.
Also, it appears there have been several false “quoting Pulp Fiction” stories that have been circulated around the Internet since at least 2012.
Furthermore, the story on the National Report was written by an author named “Jimmy Rustling,” which actually a meme that conveys strong emotions.
A part of the article reads: “Longtime diner Shilda Vafaei said it was a pretty tense moment. “The robbers asked Mr. Horner what was in his hand. He told them it was his wallet that said ‘bad [expletive]’ on it. I’ve never seen the movie so I didn’t know what he was talking about. I just thought he was some crazy white guy with a death wish.”
But despite telltale signs indicating the story is a hoax--including the over-the-top portrait of the man described in the article--more than 64,000 people shared the story.
“Then he started asking me questions about our food menu. He asked me about our hamburgers and if I knew what they called a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France? It was really weird, but hey, he’s a hero I guess,” reads a quote from the article, referring to lines in “Pulp Fiction,” a 1994 film from director Quentin Tarantino.
