Fact Check

Was the 'Most Loved Line' in 'Blazing Saddles' a 'Mistake'?

Good luck identifying the part of this endless, ad-infested clickbait slideshow that purports to address the claim.

Published Feb. 14, 2021

Updated May 17, 2021
 (Blazing Saddles, lobbycard, from left: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, 1974. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images))
Image courtesy of Blazing Saddles, lobbycard, from left: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, 1974. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)
Claim:
The "most loved line" in the 1974 movie "Blazing Saddles" was "a mistake."

An ad that is included as a paid link on the websites of several media outlets uses a picture of actress Madeline Kahn from the 1974 Mel Brooks classic film "Blazing Saddles" to present the claim that the film's "most loved line was a mistake."

Another version of the ad claimed: "It Was The Most Famous Movie Line Ever, But He Was Never Meant To Say It."

This is textbook clickbait. The links take you to virtually endless slideshows (which increase ad revenue by providing more room for advertisements) that never identifies what the "most loved line" in the film actually is. At no point in this slide show, furthermore, is there a discussion of how a mistake led to a line not originally intended for the film.

Because this ad makes an assertion in its headline text that is unsupported and unaddressed by the content within, we rate the claim as "False."

Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads.

Updates

On May 18, 2021, the following ad iteration was added to this story: "It Was The Most Famous Movie Line Ever, But He Was Never Meant To Say It."

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

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