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Africans Ridicule US Cable Network CNN On Twitter For Tagging Kenya ‘Hotbed Of Terror’ #SomeoneTellCNN
An American Cable news network’s report labelling Kenya a “hotbed of terror” ahead of the US President’s visit has sparked ridicule on Twitter.
“President Barack Obama is not just heading to his father’s homeland, but to a hotbed of terror,” the CNN report read, raising concerns about al-Qaeda affiliated terror group al-Shabaab.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Unless you are the one bringing the terror,we are a hotbed of investment opportunities & great people <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/SomeoneTellCNN?src=hash”>#SomeoneTellCNN</a> <a href=”http://t.co/ewtuSqQ1VX”>pic.twitter.com/ewtuSqQ1VX</a></p>— Chris Kirubi (@CKirubi) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CKirubi/status/624137472822411264″>July 23, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script> CNN calling Kenya the hotbed of terrorism forgetting that more people are gunned down in the US in two days than the entire Kenya in a year.
— Henrì. (@SirHenry_) July 23, 2015
The militants are based in neighbouring Somalia but have crossed the border for terror attacks including the massacre at Garissa University College that killed 152 people in April and the Westgate shopping mall attack in 2013.
US security officials have insisted there is no risk to the President, who is due to arrive tomorrow for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Mr Obama’s arrival has been highly anticipated by many Kenyans, who greeted CNN’s headline – “Security fears as Obama heads to terror hotbed” – with disbelief and anger.
Africans have been using the hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN – which has appeared in 75,000 tweets in the past day alone – to criticise the US network and demand an apology.
"Bruh,can you feel it?"
"Nope!You?"
"Nope!Still cold!"
"I don't know what Hot Bed they're on about"
#SomeoneTellCNN pic.twitter.com/ne57qDXTZo
— Wateba 2.0 (@iWateba) July 23, 2015
#SomeoneTellCNN the "Terror Hotbed" gave birth to the most powerful man in the World.. and he's coming home! pic.twitter.com/wyXv5obefg
— AbdulHadji (@abdallahhjuma) July 23, 2015
#SomeoneTellCNN American investors are willing to risk this hot bed of terror to get a piece of this #SiliconSavannah #GES2015
— Njeri Wangari (@NjeriWangari) July 23, 2015
As the criticism continued on Twitter today, CNN changed the headline to refer only to unspecified “security concerns”, with an editor’s note below reading: “The headline and lead of this article has been recast to indicate the terror threat is a regional one.”
#SomeoneTellCNN first surfaced in March 2012, when CNN’s segment on a bus station bombing sparked anger for a banner reading “Violence in Kenya”.
