Agriculture minister denies falling for fake Trump halloumi tweet

It’s hard to tell who is trolling whom online these days.

It seems agriculture minister Nicos Kouyialis fell victim to ‘fake news’ on Thursday when, fooled by a false tweet, he lauded the US President for his love of halloumi cheese and Cyprus.

The fake post, which included the correct handle for the US President (@realDonaldTrump) was evidently photoshopped.

Untitled-1It read: “Tried #Cypriot #Halloumi today. Amazing. Best #cheese, ever. Amazing. It’s true. #Cyprus is great. I will go there. They are great friends.”

Reacting, Kouyialis posted on his Twitter account: “Bravo, Leader of the Planet! Even @realDonaldTrump eats #halloumi cyprus is great indeed!”

The minister may or may not have thought he was responding to a genuine post by Trump, a prolific Twitter user.

At any rate, Kouyialis, who must have spotted the tweet somewhere online, did not bother to check on Trump’s Twitter account, which had nothing of the sort.

Some two hours after his initial post, he tweeted again, hinting that he knew all along the Trump post was bogus and he was just playing along.

“Guys, a little humour never hurt. I saw it [the tweet] and decided to have fun with it.”

Suggested tweak to the pranksters: for extra views before people catch on, next time try “absolutely fabulous” or “terrific” rather than “amazing.” Also, the English sounded a little Cypriot-English. Otherwise not a bad effort.

 

https://twitter.com/nicoskouyialis?lang=en

 

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.