Fact Check

Glare Shirt

Published July 14, 2015

Claim:

FACT CHECK:   Does a photograph depict an unwitting Hillary Clinton posing next to a woman wearing an "I'm with stupid" shirt?

Claim:   A photograph depicts an unwitting Hillary Clinton posing next to a woman wearing an "I'm with stupid" shirt.

   FALSE

Example:    [Collected via Facebook, July 2015]

THIS IS PRICELESS! RE-POST PATRIOTS!!

Origins:   On 6 July 2015, the above-displayed photograph was posted to Facebook, depicting Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton seemingly obliviously posing with a woman wearing an "I'm with stupid" shirt during a campaign event (a goof not noticed by the candidate because she's "too into herself to notice a t-shirt").

It didn't take long to uncover the background and details behind the image. It was snapped at the 2015 Independence Day parade in Gorham, New Hampshire, which Clinton attended. And as for the woman in the photograph, she appeared in other pictures taken at the event that day:

Notably, the polo shirt (not a t-shirt) sported by the unidentified ostensible Clinton supporter lacked the "I'm with stupid" embellishment (a design that was at best implausible on a polo shirt in the first place). But some gainsaid that the second (photo) shooter hardly provided a smoking gun, as the woman shown on the sideline here might have quickly changed into an identical "I'm with stupid" polo shirt just before posing with Ms. Clinton for the sole purpose of pranking the former secretary of state. Or she just might have had an iron-on transfer machine on hand which she used to quickly and craftily alter her top just to embarrass Clinton.

Those theories, however, were put to rest by a same-day tweet sent by Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker, which included the original, unaltered photo (notably lacking the "I'm with stupid" phrase later added to it):


Last updated:    14 July 2015

First published:    14 July 2015

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.

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