Social media went berserk after an article popped up claiming that a Budweiser employee has been urinating in beer tanks for the past 12 years. As bizarre as it may sound, the writeup further stated that the employee, Walter Powell (alias), himself admitted pissing in the beer produced at Budweiser Brewery Experience at Fort Collins in the United States (US).
"The first time I made water inside the tanks was after working 2 years, once I moved up and earned the trust of my superiors," Walter Powell was quoted as saying. "Is like a Russian Roulette, sometimes when I am with my friends and they ask for Budweiser, I blush and say to myself, poor guys," he added.
As the report gained traction gradually, the social media users went into overdrive and Twitter was soon flooded with memes. Also, Budweiser made it to the top trends on the micro-blogging website.
The truth behind the bizarre news
As it turns out, the claim traces back its origin to a satirical piece done by Foolish Humor, a website that churns out false news to evoke laughter, Boom Live reported. It was on May 8, 2020, that Foolish Humor published a fake story about a Budweiser employee urinating in beer tanks. The headline of the article read, "Budweiser employee acknowledges having been pissing into beer tanks for 12 years."
Here is a screenshot of the article by Foolish Humor -
The satirical piece featured an image of the General Manager of a Budweiser Brewery in Lysander, New York, named Nick Mills. However, Foolish Humor called him Walter Powell in the story to keep him anonymous.
At the end of the article, the website gave a disclaimer so that the readers would know that it is just a satirical piece. "This website is a humorous page whose sole purpose is entertainment. The content of Foolish Humor is fiction and does not correspond to reality," the disclaimer read.
However, the other websites that picked up the story did not give any sort of disclaimer and that is why the readers believed it to be true. The story went viral after it was picked up by Hyderabad-based Hans India, which did not mention that it is a satire. Later, the article was taken off from the website.
