Fake Twitter Post Fools Ted Cruz Amidst Hurricane Hilary Aftermath

Look, say what you want about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), but at some point we have all fallen victim to a little bit of misinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter, and other social media sites.

After Hurricane Hilary sent unprecedented levels of rain to California, many videos surfaced of the flooding on Twitter and other social media sites. 

Cruz reshared a post on Monday that showed a picture of a shark in flood water on a highway. The picture was posted by Barstool Sports personality Big Cat, and then Cruz retweeted, adding the comment "Holy crap."

A community note on X clarified that the photo itself was originally posted in 2011 following a hurricane in Puerto Rico. Then, the picture resurfaced as a joke on social media after other hurricanes such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. 

Holy crap. https://t.co/PEfQikM0Cd

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 21, 2023

Cruz responded to his tweet of the video, saying “I’m told this is a joke… in LA, you never know.”

Big Cat originally tweeted the picture out saying, “My friend just sent me this from the 405… and yes all media outlets you have permission to use this.”

Big Cat explained in a podcast that he was poking fun at media outlets that asked if they could use videos people posted on social media that were actually videos of a ride at Universal Studios and not actual videos of flooding in California. 

Photo: Shutterstock