Fact check: Altered image shows fabricated New York Times headline about conservative activist

Ana Faguy, USA TODAY
·3 min read
4
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The claim: Image shows New York Times headline claiming ‘superdiarrhea’ stopped Christopher Rufo’s activism

Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow with the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, has spent the past few years rallying against critical race theory, an academic concept that examines the role systems and policies have in perpetuating racism. 

His advocacy on the issue has made it a top concern for conservative media figures and politicians. This focus on critical race theory has also led to Rufo being the target of some social media users.

A July 22 Instagram post claimed that health problems led Rufo to stop his activism. The post accrued more than 2,000 likes in four days.

The purported headline reads, "He was one of the right's most outspoken leaders. Then he got sick."

The supposed subheadline reads: "Christopher Rufo helped make critical race theory a conservative rallying cry. An unusual case of recurring 'superdiarrhea' put a sudden stop to his activism."

While The New York Times has published a story on Rufo, this was not the headline nor the subheadline of the article, a New York Times spokesperson told USA TODAY. The screenshot is altered. Both the purported story and the real story featured the same image of Rufo.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment.

Christopher Rufo in Seattle, Washington.
Christopher Rufo in Seattle, Washington.

Image shows altered New York Times headlines about Rufo

The image on the Instagram post does not depict a real New York Times headline, and the Times never wrote a story reporting such a claim, Charlie Stadtlander, a New York Times spokesperson, told USA TODAY.

The claimed story was not published on nytimes.com and does not appear on The New York Times Twitter account.

On April 24, 2022, The New York Times published a profile about Rufo, but not with the headline or subheadline featured in the altered image.

Fact check: Viral statement addressing Biden's COVID-19 diagnosis is fabricated, not from Trump

The real headline reads, "'He Fuels the Right's Cultural Fires (and Spreads Them to Florida).'" While the real subheadline reads: "Christopher Rufo helped make critical race theory a conservative rallying cry. Now he sees L.G.B.T.Q. issues as an even more potent line of attack."

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image claiming to show The New York Times ran a story about "superdiarrhea" stopping Christopher Rufo’s activism. The purported headlines are not real and the Times never wrote such a story, a spokesperson said.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Altered image shows fabricated story on conservative activist