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'The Onion' Strikes Again: Indicted Ex-FIFA Exec Quotes Satirical Article

NPR | By Krishnadev Calamur
Published June 1, 2015 at 10:53 AM EDT

In the latest case of public figures confusing The Onion for fact, we give you Jack Warner.

Warner, if you recall, is a former vice president of FIFA, soccer's governing body. He is one of 14 executives the U.S. indicted last week on corruption charges. In a video posted on YouTube, he rejected those charges and claimed they were part of a U.S. conspiracy against FIFA.

"If the FIFA is so bad, why is it the U.S.A. wants to keep the FIFA World Cup?" he asks in the video, referring to The Onion article headlined: "FIFA Frantically Announces 2015 Summer World Cup In The United States: Global Soccer Tournament To Kick Off In America Later This Afternoon."

We should note here that the video we've posted is unedited. The original video, posted on Warner's YouTube channel, was trimmed to remove his reference to The Onion, presumably after much online hilarity.

For our complete coverage of FIFA, please go here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur
Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.
See stories by Krishnadev Calamur
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