People are posting parody #WaPoDeathNotices after the Washington Post's obituary of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi called him an 'austere religious scholar'
- ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US military operation in Idlib, northwestern Syria, over the weekend.
- The Washington Post referred to him in its obituary as "an austere religious leader," sparking criticism that the newspaper made light of the extreme brutality that he was known for.
- People started posting parody tweets under the #WaPoDeathNotices hashtag, such as: "Hannibal Lecter, well-known forensic psychiatrist and food connoisseur dead at 81."
- The Post's vice president of communications said the headline "should never have read that way" and that the organization "changed it quickly".
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People are parodying The Washington Post after the newspaper referred to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an "austere religious scholar" in a headline about his death.
Al-Baghdadi died after detonating a suicide vest during a US military ground raid on Saturday, President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday.
The Post changed its descriptor of al-Baghdadi in its headline multiple times on Sunday.
- The original headline called him the "Islamic State's terrorist-in chief."
- Then it called him an "austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State."
- It was finally changed to "extremist leader."
The second reference to al-Baghdadi as an "austere religious scholar" drew the most criticism.
People said it made light of the extreme brutality that al-Baghdadi was known for, including personally promoting terrorist attacks around the world, and the systematic rape of women captured by ISIS.
The headline change also inspired people to write parody headlines, under the hashtag #WaPoDeathNotices, describing the deaths of other notoriously cruel figures like al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and "Harry Potter" villain Voldemort.
Here are some of them.
Kristine Coratti Kelly, The Washington Post's vice president of communications, tweeted on Sunday that the headline "should never have read that way" and editors "changed it quickly".
- Read more:
- How Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rose from a radical religious scholar to the brutal leader of the most powerful terrorist group in the world
- Trump's al-Baghdadi raid Situation Room photo has one big difference from Obama's Osama bin Laden picture - and it tells you everything about their styles
- Activist video purports to show moment of US raid on al-Baghdadi ISIS compound. Photos show the wreckage left in its wake.
- Trump actively tried to derail the 3 biggest things that helped take out ISIS leader al-Baghdadi