Fact Check

Is Knott's Berry Farm Fleeing California?

A routine review of content labeled satire.

Published Oct. 19, 2020

 (Wikipedia)
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Claim:
Knott's Berry Farm announced in September 2020 that they were leaving California.

On Sept. 3, 2020, the UncleWalts.com website published an article positing that the Knott's Berry Farm theme park was moving out of California:

Knotts Berry Farm joins Disneyland in fleeing California

After Disneyland announced their move to Texas on Monday, another popular Southern California theme park is abandoning the state for greener pastures. Knotts Berry Farm will soon leave California and join Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated from a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:

All events, persons, and companies depicted herein, including Disney, Walt Disney, and The Disney Company, are fictitious, and any similarity to actual persons, living, dead or otherwise, or to actual firms, is coincidental. Really. The same goes for any similarities to actual facts.

In addition to its disclaimer, UncleWalts.com is replete with tongue-in-cheek references regarding its satirical nature.

Their header, for example, boasts a series of fake awards, such as "Most Churros Consumed" and "Best Made-Up-Awards." This website has previously published satirical articles falsely claiming that Disneyland was moving out of California, and that Disney was planning to build a theme park in Michigan.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources

UncleWalts.com.   "Knotts Berry Farm Joins Disneyland in Fleeing California."     3 September 2020.