Washington Post''s obituary on Baghdadi triggers outrage, memes

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, October 28

The Washington Post, a leading publication based in the US, faced a massive backlash on Twitter after it posted an obituary of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was declared dead by US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The publication had posted the obituary titled “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State, dies at 48” on its website.

The Washington Post was called out by a lot of prominent people, including media personalities, for the headline and the need for writing an obituary on Baghdadi.

Interestingly the paper changed the original headline “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State “terrorist-in-chief”, dies at 48” to the controversial one.

The headline resulted in #WaPoDeathNotice and #WashingtonPost trending in several countries, with a deluge of tweets featuring similar “obits” couched in euphemism for well-known criminals — both real and fictional.

Twitter users in India provided their own unique spin on the #WaPoDeathNotice trend, with several references to legendary Bollywood villain Mogambo, who was played by the late Amrish Puri in the 1987 film “Mr India”.

Check out some of the other hilarous #WaPoDeathNotice and #WashingtonPost posts: