John Oliver Explains the Ferdinand Marcos - Michael Jordan Viral Fake News

Last Week Tonight focused on the Philippine election on Sunday night. As with any good John Oliver segment, there were some tangents. Most notably, this one about some viral fake news regarding former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos and Michael Jordan.

The story is that Marcos and his family were celebrating the holidays in Wilmington, North Carolina when the president happened upon what would have been a 6-year old Michael Jordan begging in a park. Marcos then gave him some bread popular in the Philippines and told him he would grow up to be someone special.

It sounds fake because it is. And it wasn't even made up by someone hoping to use it as propaganda. It was parody accepted as propaganda, which might be even more disturbing. Though it is great fodder for a comedy show.