NYT reporter duped by satirical 'MAGA airspace' tweet about end of mask mandate on planes

On Monday night, a New York Times journalist looking to write a story about airplane passengers worried about the lifting of mask mandates stumbled upon a satirical tweet that loosely parodied the Jussie Smollett hoax story from January 2019.

In the original tweet, a user by the name of Jared Rabel claimed that flight attendants pulled off their masks, sneezed, and held up their hands screaming "this is MAGA airspace."

After the satirical tweet gained traction, Rabel added that people could donate money for his son's legal defense fund and that he'd pursue damages over "intentional infliction of emotional distress."

But then The New York Times Seoul correspondent, Victoria Kim, slid into Rabel's Twitter DMs.

Kim said: "Hi Jared, I'm a New York Times journalist, I'd love to speak to you over the phone about what happened on your flight this evening. Can you please give me a call at [REDACTED] or let me know how I can reach you? Hope this isn't coming too late in your day. Thank you, look forward to hearing from you."

Jared's response was: "Hello Victoria, I would love to discuss the incident at your earliest convenience. I was pretty upset about the whole thing. Unfortunately it's satire that only someone at the NYT would believe. In my time of contemplation, I was wondering how your team deals with the multitude of false stories that you peddle out daily to use as political propaganda and if you could give me advice on how to take my satire to the next level? Best wishes."

Kim did end up running a story on Tuesday for The New York Times that catalogued the reactions of airline passengers when hearing they weren't required to wear masks anymore. Her story featured a mother, Brooke Tansley, who claimed to have felt "fear and alarm" about the announcement. The story explained her situation as having "a colleague with a rare autoimmune disease," and concerns of possibly infecting them with COVID-19.

Amid the decision by the Biden administration to acknowledge the federal judge's ruling as legitimate yesterday, there were some who seriously complained about the change.

But other reactions had previously constrained airlines passengers and staff reacting with jubilation.

It was on Monday afternoon that Florida's US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle declared the Biden administration's mask mandate for public transportation invalid on the basis that the mandate "exceeded the CDC's statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions."

It led President Joe Biden to comment that if people wanted to continue wearing masks on planes, it was "up to them." However, the Department of Justice decided on Tuesday night that they'd appeal the mask ruling if the CDC "concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public's health."