What's #CNNBlackmail? Donald Trump Jr Spreads Rumor That CNN Coerced A 15-Year-Old

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted the hashtag #CNNBlackmail on Wednesday morning, acknowledging a rumor spread by the far-right media that posits CNN coerced a 15-year-old Reddit user. The Reddit user had posted a CNN GIF that involved President Trump wrestling and that the president had previously posted on Twitter.

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CNN's story, which was published Wednesday, tracked down the origins of the video, finding that the source for the tweet was on a subreddit forum /The_Donald and determined that the original poster had the username "HansA--holeSolo" and had a history of posting anti-Semitic and racist memes.

The user quickly deleted some offensive posts and posted an apology saying that he does not advocate for violence or for the bigotry in his deleted posts.

"First of all, I would like to apologize to the members of the reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened," he wrote.

"I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted, and anti-semitic," he continued. "I love people of all races, creeds, and origins. One of my best friends is a homosexual and one of my best friends is Jewish and one of my best friends is Muslim."

In their article, CNN wrote that they had been in contact with the user, decided not to post the identity behind the username because he "sounded nervous" and feared the "public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family."

"CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same," read the article.

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However, members of Twitter and members of right-wing media sites like "InfoWars" and "Gateway Pundit" posted that CNN blackmailed the Reddit user and that the user was only a teenager. It's unclear where they received this information.

The writer of the CNN story, Andrew Kaczynski, defended his article and said that the user in question was not a teenager but rather a middle-aged man.