NYT retracts article claiming watermelons were found on Mars, netizens amused

Team Udayavani, Jun 10, 2021, 11:41 AM IST

New York Times published an article claiming “Fields of Watermelons Found On Mars”. The article was deleted quickly but the netizens were quick to react and shower memes on Twitter.

The article appeared on their site attributing the claim to the police, “Authorities say rise of fruit aliens is to blame for glut of outer space watermelons.” The story was deleted less than an hour later.

The report read, “The FBI declined to comment on reports of watermelons raining down, but confirmed that kiwis have been intercepted. This story is terribly boring,” further adding, “Watermelon taste good, police say.”

What's happening at the NYT pic.twitter.com/Ff5L24zZNk

— Jon Christian (follow for chaos) (@Jon_Christian) June 8, 2021

The article got more attention when a journalist tweeted a screenshot of the article, which further created a stir on the internet.

A former employee claimed that it might have been some backend error while testing out some new features on the website.

When I worked at NYT, part of my job was to show people how to use our CMS, and my worst fear was that my fake article, “Psychologists See Rise of Alarming New Trend: Procrastination Baking,” would get published by mistake.

My thoughts are with whomever did this. https://t.co/TJ9io2w3Oz

— Lil Uzi Hurt ? (@lostblackboy) June 8, 2021

As per a report, a spokesperson of the New York Times clarified it was meant for just testing purposes. She said, “Earlier today, a mock article intended for a testing system was published on our site in error,” the spokesperson was quoted. “The article has since been removed.”

Below is how the internet reacted.

My biggest fear when responsible for pages going up on NPR was doing literally this: https://t.co/mOBkqMem7j

— Mallory Yu (@mallory_yu) June 8, 2021

This is my *actual* recurring nightmare https://t.co/BePb1WNvqi

— Heather Cherone (@HeatherCherone) June 8, 2021

QUESTION: what if the NYT/Watermelon story is their prewrite of the forthcoming UFO report?

— Amanda Becker (@AmandaBecker) June 8, 2021

Me, a space reporter, on the phone to my sources: "So have you.. heard about the, um.. watermelons on Mars?" https://t.co/BWnj911j1r

— Marina Koren (@marinakoren) June 8, 2021

The NYTimes broke the Mars Watermelon story, but it looks like the government quickly silenced them. Truth will out. https://t.co/upZ924ppM8

— matt blaze (@mattblaze) June 8, 2021

gonna assume that the agents of the watermelons on mars got in touch and let them know they weren't dead yet https://t.co/Ch4i650qss

— Walter Hickey (@WaltHickey) June 8, 2021