K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Randi Weingarten admits to sharing fake list of ‘banned’ books: ‘My bad.’
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten admitted to sharing a false tweet claiming that certain books were banned in Florida on Sunday.
“I should have double checked before I retweeted this list. My bad. Looks like some of the books weren’t banned. Book bans are very real & dangerous,” she said on Sunday. Weingarten included a screenshot of her original tweet, which said, “Books we have taught for generations!!!!!”
The list, posted by an account called “Freesus Patriot,” claimed that Florida has banned books such as, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “A Wrinkle in Time.” The account also tweeted that they would not reveal the source of the list.
“I’m not going to say where this list came from due to protecting sources but if this list is wrong then I invite @RonDeSantisFL to publicly state the books on this list will not be banned in Florida schools & he intends to protect student’s rights. I will take it down if he does,” the account tweeted.
Social media users responded to Weingarten’s walk-back and original tweet, which has since been deleted.
