Type Daily Satire Headquarters London, England | Editor Aur Esenbel Website Daily Squib.co.uk | |
Founded April 1, 2007 (2007-04-01) | ||
The Daily Squib is a British satirical online publication created by satire writer Aur Esenbel, and was officially launched on April Fool's Day, 2007. Its coverage extends across world politics, science, technology, business, sports and health.
Spoofs, humorous takes and social commentary
On February 7, 2008, The Daily Squib published a spoof article in which it was claimed that the Ku Klux Klan had chosen to endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential elections in order to avoid the election of Hillary Clinton. The spoof was misinterpreted by some readers as a factual article, and quickly became a widely circulated internet rumour that was discussed in articles by Reuters and The Times (London). An article in the Tampa Bay Times subsequently reported that the Ku Klux Klan had been repeatedly contacted with requests to verify their stance regarding The Daily Squib's story. And in April 2008, American rapper Snoop Dogg re-circulated the rumour generated by the Daily Squib story in an interview with The Guardian.
On February 3, 2009, The Daily Squib published a humorous article satirizing the UK's helpless response to prolonged snowfall in February 2009. The spoof article claimed that Hitler had planned to use 'snow zeppelins' as weapons of attack in order 'to disrupt Britain's ability to function'. The article was subsequently mentioned in the Daily Mail.
On August 4, 2010, the Daily Squib published a spoof article detailing the exploits of a masturbating Transportation Security Administration official and a full body X-ray scanner. The satirical story drew considerable attention, such that the TSA ultimately issued a public statement denying that the incident had occurred on their blog.
A Daily Squib story satirizing an interview with former United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger first published on November 27, 2011 was cited as a factual story by flagship Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, on September 16, 2012. The Daily Squib Kissinger satire, was also mentioned by former John Major era Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont on March 6, 2012 in the New Statesman.
On the 19th October 2012 a Daily Squib article which featured a fake EU poster that contained the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol was mistaken for a real EU poster by the Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan.