The woman responsible for a viral social media post that falsely claimed Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating local pets in Springfield, Ohio, has admitted the post was based on hearsay.
She expressed regret over the unfounded claim gaining national attention. Erika Lee, a 35-year-old resident of Springfield, recently took to Facebook to share a story about her neighbor's missing cat.
She claimed the neighbor believed the cat had been attacked and eaten by a Haitian immigrant. Lee confessed she had no firsthand knowledge of such incidents involving Haitian immigrants consuming pets when she made the post.
Kimberly Newton, Lee's neighbor, also admitted she didn't personally know the neighbor who lost the cat. According to NewsGuard, a media watchdog monitoring online misinformation, Newton learned about the alleged attack from a third party.
"I'm not sure I'm the most credible source because I don't actually know the person who lost the cat," Newton told the outlet, adding that the cat's owner was an "acquaintance of a friend" rather than her daughter's friend, reports the Express US .
"I don't have any proof," Newton stressed. Lee revealed she had no idea the post would "get past" Springfield, a small city of about 60,000 residents, and rapidly spread on social media, leading to a series of conspiracy theories that soon gained national attention.
"It just exploded into something I didn't mean to happen," Lee told NBC. The original Facebook post that sparked a wildfire of misinformation has been scrubbed from the "Springfield Ohio Crime and Information" group, as per NewsGuard's findings.
Screenshots of the controversial post made their way across social media platforms, landing on X by September 5, the news watchdog detailed. Yet, despite being debunked, the baseless claims have been echoed by prominent right-wing figures and GOP members, including ex-President Donald Trump and his political ally, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
In a presidential debate face-off with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump repeated the unfounded allegations, claiming immigrants were preying on Springfield's pets: "They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there," he insisted at the event.
ABC's David Muir, moderating the debate, challenged Trump with facts from city officials, but Trump doubled down, citing anecdotal accounts from "people on television" about their pets being consumed, yet failing to present any concrete proof.
Even JD Vance seemed to backtrack on his earlier statements regarding Haitian immigrants when he conceded on Tuesday that "it's possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false." City authorities and Springfield police have consistently attempted to quell the spread of these false narratives by affirming that no verifiable incidents involving pet abductions or consumption have been reported.
Springfield's city manager Bryan Heck's office has debunked swirling rumors by assuring residents that the immigrant community is not involved in any verified malicious acts toward pets: "In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," they affirmed.
Local woman Lee was blindsided by how her now-removed social media post sparked unfounded theories and unfair bias. Professing her innocence to NBC, she said, "I'm not a racist," and explained that she herself is mixed race and her daughter is Black and a member of the LGBTQ community.
"Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent," she said. However, the unintentional attention on Springfield has led to heightened tensions, as several schools and government offices were swept into panic mode for another day due to bomb threats on Friday.
Lee, expressing her empathy, told NBC, "I feel for the Haitian community," She related to the fear that the Haitian community must be feeling under unjust suspicion, saying, "If I was in the Haitians' position, I'd be terrified, too, worried that somebody's going to come after me because they think I'm hurting something that they love and that, again, that's not what I was trying to do."
Local News
