Not even Joe Rogan could conceal his surprise when he discovered that the infamous “Meme Guy,” Doug Mackey, had been convicted on March 31 for interfering with the election. The federal court ruling in the Eastern District of New York had Rogan gasping for air as he incredulously asked his producer, “he was found guilty?”
Big Jay Oakerson, a comedian and one of Rogan’s guests, said of the memes telling Hillary Clinton supporters they could vote via text message, “if you believe that is true, don’t vote anyway.”
JUST IN: Trump 24K Golden Dollars – Available Now!
Rogan continued by stating that “we are worried about old people,” adding “after a certain point in time should you really be voting anyway?”
Big Jay Oakerson and Ari Shaffir joined the discussion in episode 1966 of the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, which aired on April 5.
Makey, who goes by the Twitter handle Ricky Vaughn, got into trouble on November 1, 2016, after posting a controversial meme. The offending meme advised Hillary Clinton fans to “skip the line, vote from home,” and it even provided a phone number to text the word “Hillary” to. Sadly for Makey, this post sparked a debate and led to charges being brought against him.
The Department of Justice investigated allegations of election meddling but failed to uncover any proof that anybody had been duped by a particular meme. After thorough study, there was no hard evidence to back up the assertion that the meme had altered public opinion or affected the outcome of the election.
A deluge of memes supporting Donald Trump were widely shared online throughout the 2016 presidential election. Even though several of these memes were circulated extensively, Doug Mackey was charged with federal offenses for his role in their dissemination. Mackey finds himself at the heart of a legal dispute concerning the function of internet propaganda in contemporary politics, even while others may have dodged punishment.
Turner Buford, an assistant US attorney, claimed at the time “this wasn’t about changing votes. This was about vaporizing votes, making them disappear.” and that “the number was real and set up to receive incoming messages.”
An unexpected development in the case happened on March 14 when an expert witness withdrew from the roster of witnesses. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which reportedly approached the witness with the intention of damaging his image, was discovered to be the cause of this abrupt departure. An open letter from Mackey’s counsel was sent in response to this threat. “The government’s motion to preclude the testimony of Professor George Hawley, an expert witness… is sub judice… in an apparent attempt to paint him as an extremist…”
According to attorney Andrew Frisch, the meme would have been perceived as “ludicrous to anyone with a basic knowledge of how presidential elections work.”
