Fact Check

Breaking News

Published Aug. 20, 2015

Claim:

FACT CHECK:   Has Fox News hired George Zimmerman, the man who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, as a commentator?


Claim:   Fox News has hired George Zimmerman, the man who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, as a commentator.

   FALSE

Example:     [Collected via Twitter, August 2015]

Origins:    On 19 August 2015, the web site The Business Standard News (tagline "BS News, keeping it real") published an article titled "FOX News Hires George Zimmerman As Commentator," reporting that:

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who killed black teen Trayvon Martin, has been hired as a commentator by FOX News.

A FOX News spokesman said Zimmerman will comment on second amendment and other crime issues. FOX News host Steve Doocy welcomed the decision.

"George has had such a rough time after the trial, we are glad to give him a stable job," Doocy said.

However, this article was just a spoof of Zimmerman's controversial post-trial endeavors, which include teaming up with the owner of a Florida "Muslim-free zone" gun shop to sell Confederate flag artworks.

Content on the Business Standard News web site bears the following disclaimer, indicating that is not intended to be taken seriously:

The Business Standard News is a satirical site designed to poke fun at the absurdity of the modern-day news cycle. The stories are outlandish, but reality is so strange nowadays they could be true.

The site wasn't the first to concoct a tale about Fox News' hiring Zimmerman. A fake news article from 2013 made the same claim:


In early August 2015, the Business Standard News published a (similarly false) article claiming Fox News commentator Stacey Dash had been secretly recorded trashing the network.

Last updated:      20 August 2015

Originally published:     20 August 2015

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.