'It just exploded': Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about Haitians

[sarchasm]

Source: NBC News

Alicia Victoria Lozano
Updated Sat, September 14, 2024 at 4:40 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The woman behind an early Facebook post spreading a harmful and baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating local pets that helped thrust a small Ohio city into the national spotlight says she had no firsthand knowledge of any such incident and is now filled with regret and fear as a result of the ensuing fallout.

“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Erika Lee, a Springfield resident, told NBC News on Friday.

Lee recently posted on Facebook about a neighbor’s cat that went missing, adding that the neighbor told Lee she thought the cat was the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.

Newsguard, a media watchdog that monitors for misinformation online, found that Lee had been among the first people to publish a post to social media about the rumor, screenshots of which circulated online. The neighbor, Kimberly Newton, said she heard about the attack from a third party, NewsGuard reported.



Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/just-exploded-springfield-woman-claims-004811293.html

[moniss]

1. A whole bunch of CYA routine

going on by the sounds of it.

[tanyev]

2. I suspect she mostly regrets that she's been publicly named as the source.

[GoYouPackersGo]

3. Sorry Erika...

you own it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Yes. FAFO. Lies have consequences. At least charge her with Public Mischief. . . . . nt

[Mawspam2]

4. Sounds like she is trying to keep that hardware store job.

Just give up and take the Tim Pool / Russian tool money.

[Javaman]

5. There is so much I would like to tell this woman

None of which is nice

To use a phrase that was used to describe the nazis reign of terror: she is part of the modern version of the banality of evil.

Ordinary people doing unspeakable hateful things all because they genuflect at the altar of the orange asshole

[tonekat]

6. Facebook: Spreading the Myth of the Outrageous

Every day.

Lee just got a lot of attention she did not expect and will regret it for a very long time.

[murielm99]

9. I am glad she admitted it.

I think she will regret it forever. Maybe it will change her for the better.

[yardwork]

18. I don't know. I read her actual Facebook post and it was so hateful.

Don't look for it if ideation about torturing animals is upsetting to you. I wish I hadn't read it.

I think she's mentally ill, to have posted such things.

[murielm99]

22. Thank you.

I will avoid anything having to do with that person.

[Clouds Passing]

7. This is going to hurt the lyin' liars badly. Turning a bit of gossip into a huge national lie.

Erika is at fault for the original post but Dump/Vantz are most responsible for turning into the lie it became, the national promotion of the big lie, and the fallout from it.

This is what needs to become national news, that Dump/Vantz caused all this chaos.

Vote them out forever.

[niyad]

8. Like hell you didn't, erika. Why else would you post such hateful bs?

You had better pray, and pray hard, that nobody dies, or is seriously injured, because you should be charged then as an accessory.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

10. This is so public she should be unless LE / AG are Trumpanzees

[Geechie]

12. If you're really sorry,

Ma’am, publish an open letter to JDV and DJT in the local paper and post it all over social media so he has to see it, telling them you were wrong and that they should stop spreading a lie.

[BaronChocula]

13. I NEVER make predictions

But I predict she's going to become BIG news this upcoming week. She'll make a big public apology for being the snowflake that started this avalanche. She'll admit it's all a lie. And Kamala Harris will go up a point in the polls.

And hopefully reasonable members of the Ohio congressional delegation (Democrats) will convince POTUS to step in to keep this from becoming another Tulsa or Rosewood.

[Aussie105]

14. So Patient Zero in this miasma of lies and deception has been named?

Is that beetroot stains on her face?

GOP spin people aren't very good at fact checking, are they?

Moral of the story - don't post shyte in case the wind changes direction and blows it back in your face!

[Skittles]

24. TRUMP SAW IT ON TV!

THAT'S ALL THE PROOF HE NEEDS!

[LauraInLA]

15. One thing I cannot get over is the fact that she didn't understand the damage she could do given the fact that

“her daughter is half Black and she herself is mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ community.”

[yardwork]

19. I read her Facebook post. It was so crazy and over the top.

I'd say she has mental health issues.

[Skittles]

25. if anything, those facts make her seem even more stupid

[samnsara]

16. what an effing dumb thing to do

[twodogsbarking]

17. Hope you are miserable woman.

[Hotler]

20. Did she post an apology yet? .................................................................... nt

[mtngirl47]

21. The rumor was already going around Springfield in April

I was visiting there in April for the eclipse and my sister who lives nearby told me about the ducks and pets.

I told her that folks said the same thing about Vietnamese immigrants back in the day.

[LiberalLovinLug]

23. The thing is, even IF it were true, that there were a case or two like this happening

One or two hungry and fearful migrants do kill a duck in a park and eat it, it shouldn't work to paint every single Haitian or other brown or black migrant with the same brush.

Even if one kills a family pet. It would be a very rare occurrence. And has nothing to do with immigration policy as a whole.

There are hundreds, at least, of white pet owners who abuse their pets, starve them, beat them, and cause premature death.

[tetedur]

26. If you've posted this, with no proof, it is racist.

As JD Vance has said "first-hand" witnesses contacted him. If you contact your US Senator to complain, it is racism being used for political purposes.