The alleged calamity supposedly occurred in Iowa.

Far-right activists burn the Pride flag outside the Small Opera House in Kyiv on June 13, 2017. (Image courtesy of Getty Images)

On June 12, 2024, the X account @HalfwayPost claimed a “MAGA fan” — referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump who use the slogan “Make America Great Again” — in Iowa accidentally burned down his house that day while trying to set fire to a Pride flag.

The post had amassed more than 11.7 million views at the time of this writing.

Other X users replying to the post appeared to believe the story was true, with one writing: “Karma doesn’t miss.”

Another said: “Please say this is real.”

Similar posts appeared elsewhere on X, on Facebook and in multiple Reddit posts.

One Facebook user wrote: “Could’ve avoided that one by being a good person.”

However, this item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The claim originated from the The Halfway Post X account, which described its output as satirical in nature, as follows:

Halfway true comedy and satire by @DashMacIntyre. I don’t report the facts, I improve them.

On his X account, Dash Macintyre described himself as a comedian who published “satirical Dada news.”

A follow-up X post by The Halfway Post said: “The MAGA fan in Iowa who accidentally burned down his house yesterday trying to burn a gay pride flag today set his truck on fire trying to burn a DVD of Brokeback Mountain.”

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.