George Zimmerman lotto winner?

George Zimmerman won the lottery!
Well, only if you read The Onion. The
infamous satire publication appears to
have fooled several news outlets yet
again, after posting that Zimmerman won
the jackpot shortly after he was acquitted
of murder.
According to the satire site, Zimmerman
won the $37 million Florida Lottery
jackpot on Monday. The Examiner was
one site who initially believed the article,
running an article titled, “ Report: George
Zimmerman wins $35 million jackpot in
Florida Lottery .”
However, the site has since taken down
the article. Other sites, such as The Epoch
Times and Social News Daily immediately
recognized the George Zimmerman
lottery article as a hoax.
Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in
the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin
Saturday night. He was in hiding before
the trial and will likely remain in hiding
after, as there have been several threats
on his life.
That fact alone should have helped
internet users realize the George
Zimmerman winning the lottery article
was a hoax (if they didn’t already
understand The Onion’s satire).
However, along with news sites, Twitter
and Facebook users appeared to believe
the hoax, with some commenting that
Zimmerman deserved his lottery
winnings, while most said he didn’t.
The article announced that Zimmerman
purchased the ticket hours after he was
found not guilty. It adds that the 29-year-
old apparently explained, “I just figured
why not, you know? I think I’ll probably
use the money to buy a bigger house and
a new car, and I’ll invest the rest. This is
just fantastic. Life is good.”
While Zimmerman probably does feel
relieved about the outcome of the trial,
it’s unlikely he will purchase a lottery
ticket anytime soon. Thankfully for The
Examiner and others, they are not the
first to be duped by an Onion article. The
hoax even prompted popular de-bunking
site Snopes to post an article about the
situation .
Were you duped by The Onion’s article
claiming George Zimmerman won the
lottery?