claim: a zoo in china named a baby gorilla harambe mcharambeface.
question: china’s jinhua zoo names baby gorilla harambe mcharambeface?
origin: on 10 september 2016, the entertainment web site boston leader published an article claiming that a zoo in china held an online naming contest for a baby gorilla and that “harambe mcharambeface” ended up as the winning entry:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  a naming contest held for a baby gorilla at jinhua zoo, located in china’s central zhejiang province, has announced the winning entry – which captured over 93% of all votes cast online – as “harambe mcharambeface.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  while the boston leader’s article was picked up by news outlets, this story is a hoax; the jinhua zoo did not name a baby gorilla “harambe mcharambeface.”  the boston leader claims that it has been “bringing you boston’s best news since 1932,” but the web site was started on 9 september 2016, a day before the baby gorilla story was published.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  furthermore, while boston leader claimed to glean its information from statements a local jinhua zoo official gave to local media outlets, we found no record of the jinhua zoo commenting on a baby gorilla named harambe mcharambeface, nor its alleged chinese name “heijin.” .
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this hoax news story from the boston leader spoofed two big internet stories from 2016: the death of harambe, a gorilla shot at a cincinnati zoo after a child fell into its enclosure, and almost naming a british research vessel “boaty mcboatface” (after a public contest) after an online contest.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: a hoax news article blended several memes when it reported that a zoo named a baby gorilla harambe mcharambeface.
summary: on 10 september 2016, the entertainment web site boston leader published an article claiming that a zoo in china held an online naming contest for a baby gorilla and that “harambe mcharambeface” ended up as the winning entry. while the boston leader’s article was picked up by news outlets, this story is a hoax. we found no record of the jinhua zoo commenting on ababy gorilla named harambe.