claim: Katy Perry's call for people to "coexist" after the Manchester bombing has inspired ISIS to lay down its arms.
origin: On 24 May 2017, the Babylon Bee web site published an articleÂ falsely claiming that the Islamic StateÂ had officially given up its campaign of terrorism in response toÂ the singer Katy Perryâ€™s pleas for peaceful co-existence, in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bomb attack:Â < Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, released a statement Wednesday confirming that ISIS would be immediately surrendering its fight to establish a powerful caliphate after viewing an interview in which pop singer Katy Perry said, â€œThe greatest thing we can do just unite and love on each other and like, no barriers, no borders, like, we all need to just co-exist.â€ > The article, which is intended to be humorous, alludesÂ to comments made by Perry on the Elvis Duran Morning Show on 23 May 2017, the day after a suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena killed 22 people.Â In that interview, the singer said: < I think the greatest thing that we can do now is just unite as people, as fanbases, all of it, you know? Whatever we say behind peopleâ€™s backs â€“ because the internet can be a little bit ruthless as far as fanbases go â€“ but I think that the greatest thing we can do is just unite and love on each other. And no barriers, no borders â€“ we all need to just coexist. > Perryâ€™s comments attracted ridicule in some quarters, with the conservative web site The Blazeâ€˜s Carlos Garcia writing: < Social media mocked pop singer Katy Perry for politicizing the terror attack Monday night in Manchester, England, and using the horrific event to promote a liberal agenda. > FoxNews commentator Michelle Malkin also criticised Perryâ€™s comments as an example of aÂ â€œlimousine, Gulfstream liberal mindset.â€ Perryâ€™s remarks hardly amounted to astute or detailed geopolitical analysis, but they also werenâ€™t intended as such. Perry wasÂ primarily addressing online conflicts between sets of celebrity fans, rather thanÂ offeringÂ a comprehensiveÂ solution to global terrorism â€”Â a point the singer herself made on Twitter.Â However you interpret Katy Perryâ€™s comments, though, they certainly didnâ€™t inspire the leaders of ISIS to lay down their arms. That story â€“ like everything published by the Babylon Bee â€“ is satire.