No, Rice Krispies Did Not Announce 'Pop Is Now a Trans Woman'

Fact Check

The same stupid memes, from the same stupid sources, every stupid time.

Published May 24, 2022

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In May 2022, CNN reported that Kellogg's had announced the Rice Krispies mascot Pop "is now a trans woman."

Fact Check

In May 2022, social media users widely and enthusiastically shared what appeared to be a screenshot of a genuine CNN article, but was in fact a fabrication.

The meme consisted of a cartoon showing Snap, Crackle, and Pop, the well-known gnome mascots of Rice Krispies cereal, along with the following text, presented as the headline of a CNN article:

"Kellogg's spokesperson announces Rice Krispie mascot 'Pop' is now a trans woman."

The fake headline proved hugely popular on Facebook, as demonstrated in the image below, which shows just a selection of posts from May 2022:

It's not clear who created the bogus headline, but it emerged on AR15.com, a right-wing forum, and before that, on the /pol/ section of 4chan — a notorious wellspring of bigoted, far-right memes.

In reality, of course, Kellogg's never made any such announcement, and CNN never published any such story.

Sources

/Pol/ - We’re Winning - Politically Incorrect - 4chan. https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/378912072. Accessed 24 May 2022.

Rice Krispie Mascot Pop Is Now a Trans-Woman - AR15.COM. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Rice-Krispie-mascot-Pop-is-now-a-trans-woman/5-2554269/. Accessed 24 May 2022.

Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes.

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