Kenyan journalist, Teddy Eugene has been exposed for spreading fake rumours. In a tweet, Teddy announced that a South African student has been arrested for eating at KFC free for a year by saying head office sent him to taste their food. The idea was to find out if they were up to standards. This tweet went viral and caught the eye of international publications.
The story was run by a number of smaller outlets and blogs, published by the Daily Mail and Metro UK some of the planet’s most-read publications, reported by respected American television network CBS and ran on South African radio. KFC South Africa finally responded to the social media fans of the alleged chicken conman saying: ‘It would be legendary if only it were true. Fake is as far as it gets with this story.’
https://twitter.com/teddyeugene/status/1127575757713223680
Although his story was but a single tweet, providing only bare details, Teddy Otieno, who is verified on Twitter, is a news journalist for the Hot 96 FM, stood by his tweet when a source reached out for comment.
“I got it from a contact in KwaZulu Natal,” he said, and characterizing KFC’s denial as “a PR stunt”.
Apparently, the arrested individuals are supposed to appear before the court no later than 48 hours after their arrest according to South African law, but by mid-week, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal said there had been no such appearance and the police in the province too had heard of the arrest they had supposedly made only via social media.
In another past incident, Teddy made Swaziland trend on Twitter after he said that, by decree of eSwatini King Mswati III, men there faced jail time if they did not marry two wives starting June 2019 and that the king already had 15 wives.
Refuting the rumours, Swatini’s government spokesperson said the story was not only an insult to the monarchy and the culture of eSwatini but a disgrace to journalism.