Another fabricated hate crime, this time by a gay man who claimed to have been beaten outside a bar.
Via NY Daily News:
A 22-year-old Montana man who told cops he was beaten up by gay-bashing thugs while club-hopping on his birthday — igniting calls online for protest against homophobic violence — made the whole thing up and actually injured himself, he admitted.Joseph Baken, of Billings, suffered the bruises and cuts to his face when he smashed it against a curb while attempting to stick an Olympic-style backflip in the street, he said….Photos of Baken’s battered face were posted on Facebook, Tumblr and other social media sites, prompting an outcry against homophobic violence and calls for protest.However, a tipster sent a video to the Independent that showed Baker trying to impress his pals by doing a backflip off a curb sometime around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.Baker flubbed the stunt and landed on his face.The newspaper passed the video on to police, and Baken quickly copped to lying about getting jumped.Missoula police said they decided to file charges in-part because Baken’s story caused so much outrage.
The fact that the fake hate crime was gay bashing isn’t what is important — there is a deep history of fake hate crimes based on race, sex, religion, and so on.
If there had been no video to expose the fraud, would this have been another teachable moment in which we were told to look inward to examine who we are as a nation and culture?
(language warning on video)
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