That now-infamous photo of Steven Spielberg sitting in front of a triceratops reared its ugly head on Twitter Tuesday and is still making fools out of Internet users. One person who was tricked is acclaimed American author Joyce Carol Oates.
This all started again when IGN movie editor Chris Tilly tweeted the picture of Spielberg on the set of 1993’s Jurassic Park. “This guy thinks it's cool to kill defenceless animals then take a selfie. Jerk,” Tilly wrote.
Oates retweeted Tilly, adding, “So barbaric that this should still be allowed... No conservation laws in effect wherever this is?”
So did Oates just not look at the photo closely and thought that the triceratops was a rhino? Does she think that dinosaurs still exist? Or was she just trolling us all to get her name back in the headlines? It’s not clear, and she hasn’t said anything about it since. Her more tweets today were on unrelated topics.
Tilly has since retweeted other Twitter users who fell for his shenanigans. (This does beg the question - why are people who don’t know Jurassic Park following him?)
This isn’t the first time that the photo made fools out of the Internet. In July 2014, comedian Jay Branscomb posted it on Facebook, writing, “Disgraceful photo of recreational hunter happily posing next to a Triceratops he just slaughtered. Please share so the world can name and shame this despicable man.” He was trying to make fun of the teenager whose photos of dead African animals went viral, but thousands didn’t get the joke.
Of course, the irony of all this is that the triceratops is not actually dead in the film and just sick. But obviously anyone who thinks that triceratops are still around didn’t see all of Jurassic Park.
image of Steven Spielberg courtesy of INFphoto.com