SATIRE

Onion Tweets About Capitol Gunfire

Confusing readers, angering police.

Does The Onion need a #satire hashtag? Some readers were confused when the news-satire website started tweeting about gunfire at the Capitol building this morning. The tweet was promoting a story about Congress taking a group of schoolchildren hostage, but readers reacted by asking if the site was hacked, while others apparently took it as news. “I work at the Capitol and I just yelled at my coworkers that there was gunfire ... you scared the [expletive] out of me #fakenewsscares,” wrote one person. A spokesperson for the Capitol Police, which reportedly reacted “angrily” to the tweets, said it's investigating the incident. “This is satire,” said the Onion office. “That’s how it works.” The Onion followed up its tweet with one containing the hashtag #CongressHostage.