【White Skin Black Thighs】

UPDATE: Nov. 15,White Skin Black Thighs 2017, 11:21 a.m. GMT The BBC has apologised for erroneously describing @zanu_pf as the official account of Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu-PF.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Confusion and chaos are dominating the news in Zimbabwe after the military took over the national broadcaster, ZBC, saying it wanted to "target criminals" around president Robert Mugabe.

SEE ALSO: Zimbabwe president is the new African Union chairman

Defence forces deny that they're staging a coup, but the whereabouts of Mugabe and his wife Grace are currently unknown.

Amidst unofficial reports and rumours, the BBC and other news organisations are quoting an unverified Twitter account allegedly belonging to Zimbabwe's ruling party, Zanu-PF:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

TheBBC's Breaking News team even sent a push-up notification, as if the Zimbabwean account was an official source:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

And it was also quoted in BBC Radio 4's Today Programme:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The tweets deny that there's been a coup and say there's been a "bloodless transition of power":

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

It's puzzling to see a news organisation like the BBC quoting an unverified source in this way. The corporation famously has robust Editorial Guidelines which includes best practice around sourcing and attribution. They also have an extensive network of correspondents all around the world with an ear to the ground.

So presumably there is a solid editorial reason why they've decided to quote @zanu_pf which has long been flagged as a parody account, despite it's official tone and style.

In 2014 the account called for hipsters to be shot after being forced to sing the national anthem:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

That tweet has now been deleted:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

More outlandish tweets feature Mugabe photoshopped as a surfer on a wave after the infamous fall in 2015:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Or ranting against Eggs Benedict as a product of imperialism:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Or against Jews:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Both The Atlantic and Australian broadcaster ABC quoted the account and then issued retractions in 2012, when rumours of Mugabe being gravely ill and fighting for his life in a Singapore hospital swirled on social media.

The local paper NewsDay reported in 2013 that @zanu_pf was a fake account and real Zanu-PF officials were looking into the identity of its owner.

Meanwhile, @zanu_pf just tweeted that henceforth it will be loyal to vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is rumoured to have taken control of the presidency after he was sacked by Mugabe:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Flying taxis could be here by 2020 thanks to Uber

---

• Life
• Social Good
• Science
• Tech
• Shopping
• Deals
• Entertainment
• Digital Culture

• A Liberal Comity Show
• Happy Birthday, George! by Sadie Stein
• Ululating to Air Supply by Robin Hemley
• We probably won't get a bisexual pride flag emoji anytime soon. Here's why.
• Élite Politesse
• Gaze upon these good dogs at the 2020 National Dog Show
• Happy Birthday, Jack Kerouac by Sadie Stein
• Meta to roll back Covid
• What a great week to be a woman in media!!
• MCU recap: What to remember before watching 'Secret Invasion'

• Adorable new 'Game of Thrones' Funkos will make you forget the tiresome bloodshed
• Students create impressive schoolwork waterfall to celebrate the end of the year
• Amazon has quietly turned its mobile app into a weird and wonderful ecommerce arsenal
• Yep, there's already a fidget spinner makeup tutorial
• All 165 of the best 'Overwatch' skins, ranked
• Kremlin's sexy music video tells kids protesting corruption isn't cool
• The final 'House of Cards' Season 5 promo is so deliciously creepy
• An 'Overwatch' amateur strikes fear in the hearts of South Korean pros
• A NASA moon mission got smacked by a piece of space debris and lived to tell the tale
• Can Vox become a better Medium than Medium?

• The Great Lakes Avengers vs. The Crumbling Cities of the Coast
• Notes from a Bookshop: March, or Waiting for Redbird by Kelly McMasters
• 'Asteroid City' has a spectacular Easter egg for fans of this kooky '90s sci
• On the Road iPad by Stephen Hiltner
• Is Anyone Relating?
• Wes Anderson's 'Asteroid City' has so much detail it needed an exhibition
• On the Road iPad by Stephen Hiltner
• Happy March 21 by Sadie Stein
• Hot World, Cooler Heads
• Elements of Style, and Other News by Sadie Stein

• Toppling Monuments to White Supremacy
• Letter from Boston by Michael McGrath
• Twitter reportedly ran family
• Bimbos are good, actually
• Malign Intervention
• 'The Flash' disappoints at the box office on debut
• Here's what Trump paid for each new Biden vote in Wisconsin
• Alex Katz, Paris Review, 1991 by The Paris Review
• Brown Existence Anxiety
• Last Chance, Poseurs! Win a Briefcase by Sadie Stein