Internet has been shaken-up by the carefully tailoured rumour about Thomas Jefferson’s face being replaced with that of Taylor Swift on renowned US monument Mount Rushmore.
TikTok creator blink1katie2_ instigated the buzz by posting a video on her account where she asked her followers for advice on “how to start a successful rumor because I would like to start a rumor that they will be replacing Thomas Jefferson's face with Taylor Swift's on Mount Rushmore in order to boost the economy in South Dakota.”
She explained that her goal is to get it on mainstream media, particularly Fox News and “make multiple middle aged men cry.”
“So if anyone has any tips on how I can make that happen, please reach out,” the user concluded the video, and before we knew it, the video received over 1 million views and 6,500 comments.
Viewers took to the comments to “corroborate” the rumour, with one writing: "I live in South Dakota. Can confirm. That’s why Amtrak is looking to finally come through our state. To boost the Taylor Swift tourism.”
Another suggested the TikToker to start a petition on Change.org and obtain a certain number of signatures in order to coerce the government to respond.
She shortly started the petition by the name of "Halt the Proposal to Replace Thomas Jefferson with Taylor Swift on Mount Rushmore,” which has garnered 900 signatures so far.
Katie later took to the video platform to make a follow-up video, noting she never implied "they should put Taylor Swift's face on Mount Rushmore."
"I wasn't suggesting it," she said. "I was just saying like wouldn't it be crazy if people believed something this outrageous?”
Thomas Jefferson was one of the American Founding Father and the third President of the United States. He is also known as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
Mount Rushmore is a famous monument in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. It is carved with the heads of four notable United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
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