On Nov. 28, 2022, Reddit user u/BUTTERSTICKDILDO posted a screenshot of a purported tweet from conservative commentator Matt Walsh. The tweet showed the handle @MattWalshBlog for Walsh's blog, as well as a date of April 23, 2017. The tweet with Walsh's name read, "'Taking advantage' of a drunk girl is not rape. Pressuring someone into sex isn't rape. No doesn't always mean no. If the left had its way, then half of the sexual encounters of my life would be considered sexual assault."
This was not a real tweet from Walsh.
The fake tweet originated on the r/ToiletPaperUSA subreddit. Two days later, one of the subreddit's admins made a new post titled, "A couple updates on fake tweets." The post said that as a new rule, "all fake tweets must be 'flaired' as 'FAKE NEWS'" and that "the title must begin with '[FAKE].'"
The image of the fake tweet was also reshared and upvoted on r/facepalm and r/WhitePeopleTwitter, as well as on iFunny.co.
The screenshot in the r/WhitePeopleTwitter thread showed a tweet with the fake tweet screenshot from @rechargetheowl. The user later deleted their tweet and added, "Deleted the Matt Walsh tweet because it was fake but fuck Matt Walsh regardless." Another person asked, "If they can spread false allegations, then why not us?" The @rechargetheowl user replied, "Because then we sink down to their level."
A user named @NerdyCalixto also shared the fake tweet as a screenshot on Twitter. @NerdyCalixto's post received tens of thousands of combined retweets, quote tweets, and likes, despite the fact that the tweet in the screenshot with Walsh's name and image was not real.
For readers unfamiliar with Walsh, in addition to his work on The Matt Walsh Blog, he also writes for the conservative website The Daily Wire and appeared in the 2022 documentary, "What Is a Woman?"
In sum, no, Walsh never tweeted the message about how "'taking advantage' of a drunk girl is not rape."
For further reading, we previously reported on an authentic tweet from Walsh that he posted on the day after Roe v. Wade was overturned. He had apparently mistakenly given his support to what appeared to be an elephant fetus ultrasound image. The tweet was soon deleted, as it appeared he had initially believed it showed a human fetus.