Viral Nightmare: Detroit Lions Rookie Tate Ratledge’s Phone Blows Up Over The Onion’s Thanksgiving Satire—A Look at Parody in the Post-Truth Era
When Satire Becomes Breaking News: The Onion’s Latest Victim
In the modern media landscape, the line between bizarre reality and satirical fiction has never been thinner. For proof, look no further than the tumultuous 48 hours experienced by Detroit Lions rookie offensive lineman, Tate Ratledge, whose phone was reportedly overwhelmed with messages after a perfectly crafted, entirely fake news story by The Onion went viral. The satirical article, titled “Detroit Lions Rookie Asks For Thanksgiving Off,” played on a classic sports media trope, but its success in fooling an astonishing number of people—including a caller to a local radio station—is the latest, and perhaps most potent, evidence of The Onion‘s unique and often chaotic influence on public discourse.
The timing is impeccable. As the Detroit Lions prepared for their traditional annual Thanksgiving Day game, The Onion published its parody. The article featured fabricated quotes from Ratledge expressing a comically mundane, yet relatable, desire to skip the high-stakes NFL game to instead be with his family for their traditional holiday feast and, crucially, to watch football. One fake quote attributed to Ratledge read, “I know we have a game scheduled, but my family has this big tradition every year where we all get together on that day and have a feast and watch football, and I really don’t want to miss it.” The satire then went for the kill, joking that the rookie offered to make up the game “sometime during a bye week.”
Though clearly absurd to anyone familiar with the rigorous, non-negotiable schedule of professional football, the article’s viral spread was immediate. Lions reporter Justin Rogers confirmed that the rookie’s phone was flooded with messages, and the story gained enough traction to be taken as genuine by some segments of the public. The confusion reached its peak when a team employee relayed that a fan had actually called into a local radio show to complain about the rookie’s supposed audacity. This incident is a perfect, timely microcosm of the challenge faced by satire in 2025: in a world where truth is often stranger than fiction, how do we spot the joke?
The ‘Onion Effect’: Why the World Keeps Falling for It
The Ratledge story is far from the first time The Onion has been mistaken for an actual news source. The publication maintains an infamous list of international incidents where its headlines—from Russian media taking a piece about North Korea seriously to US Congress members citing their articles—have been reported as fact. This phenomenon, which can be termed ‘The Onion Effect,’ speaks to two core shifts in the modern information ecosystem.
First, the sheer volume and speed of information dissemination, particularly via social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, encourage headline-only reading. Users often see an Onion headline, share it immediately based on its emotional resonance or perceived plausibility, and neglect to read the article’s body or check the source’s name. In the current hyper-polarized environment, a ridiculous story that confirms a bias can be more easily accepted than an inconvenient truth.
Second, the state of actual news has edged dangerously close to The Onion’s domain. As CEO Ben Collins noted in a recent interview, “People always say like the world has turned into what The Onion has been doing for the last 37 years. I think it’s worse, frankly.” He elaborates that the goal of the publication is to get to the heart of an issue through absurdity, and if what they write sounds more real than the news, it’s a reflection of how much the surrounding media and political environment has changed. The absurdity of a highly-paid NFL player asking to skip a mandated Thanksgiving game to watch football becomes a believable ‘diva athlete’ story in the minds of some, demonstrating a fundamental breakdown in shared context and media literacy.
The High-Stakes Business of Satire: The Infowars Acquisition Saga
The Ratledge incident, while humorous, underscores the immense cultural and political power The Onion continues to wield. This influence is the driving force behind its most ambitious, and most serious, corporate play: the attempted acquisition of the notorious far-right conspiracy platform, Infowars, run by Alex Jones.
This saga began in late 2024 when The Onion was named the winning bidder for Infowars’ assets in a bankruptcy auction. Jones was forced to liquidate his assets to pay the massive $1.3 billion legal judgments owed to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, whom he had repeatedly defamed by claiming the tragedy was a hoax. The satirical publication’s plan was immediately celebrated by many: they intended to take the bastion of hateful disinformation and relaunch it as a pure parody site, vowing to fill it with “noticeably less hateful disinformation” than before. They even planned to transform its notorious supplement business into an ironic venture, further weaponizing the assets against their former owner.
However, the sale was blocked in December 2024 by US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez. The judge ruled that the auction process was flawed and “left a lot of money on the table,” rejecting Jones’s claims of collusion but invalidating the process that led to The Onion‘s win.
Despite this setback, the fight is not over. As of recent reports in 2025, The Onion‘s publisher, Global Tetrahedron, remains committed. CEO Ben Collins has confirmed that they are “absolutely trying” to regain control of the assets, indicating that the strategic goal of repurposing Infowars as a vehicle for lampooning misinformation—with the proceeds ultimately benefiting the Sandy Hook families—is still a key corporate objective. The Infowars bid has transformed a satirical acquisition into a prolonged, high-stakes battle with a layer of social justice, further cementing The Onion‘s role as an unlikely, yet powerful, combatant in the war against disinformation.
The Future and The AI Question
Beyond corporate acquisitions, The Onion is also navigating the existential threat of Artificial Intelligence to the creative field. In a recent interview, Ben Collins emerged as a vocal critic of AI in content creation, arguing that machine outputs fundamentally lack the ‘nuanced absurdity’ essential for genuine satire. His stance is simple: “AI can’t write jokes worth a damn.” This critique comes at a time when other media outlets are experimenting with Large Language Models (LLMs) to cut costs, but The Onion‘s leadership believes the human element—the subtle, specific, and often dark understanding of cultural context—is irreplaceable. Collins’s comments followed an ironically painful incident earlier in 2025 where the publication inadvertently published an AI-generated image, a blunder that was quickly rectified but served as a poignant reminder of the technology’s pervasive reach and the importance of their editorial integrity.
In a strategic move to solidify its financial independence and focus on quality content, The Onion has also made significant internal changes. Following its acquisition by Global Tetrahedron in April 2024, the company, founded by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, revived its print edition in August 2024. This monthly print publication, now a paid subscription with over 50,000 subscribers, has become its main source of revenue, representing a notable shift away from the ad-heavy, clickbait digital model that defined its previous ownership under G/O Media. This back-to-basics approach is a testament to the belief that in a noisy digital world, readers are willing to pay for high-quality, pointed satire delivered by a trusted, human-driven brand.
The ongoing drama—from the lighthearted confusion of a football rookie to the serious legal battle for a conspiracy website—confirms The Onion‘s enduring relevance. It remains America’s Finest News Source, not for its truthfulness, but for its unparalleled ability to reflect the truth of an absurd world, even when that reflection is so sharp it breaks through the screen and causes a real-world panic. The only question left is what real-life disaster will be mistaken for a headline next week.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Is the story about the Detroit Lions rookie asking for Thanksgiving off real?
A: No. The story about Detroit Lions rookie Tate Ratledge asking for time off to celebrate Thanksgiving was a piece of pure satire published by The Onion, which is a well-known satirical news publication. The article, while humorous, was completely fabricated, and the quotes attributed to Ratledge were fake. The incident is a recent example of the publication’s satire being mistaken for real news.
Q: What is the current status of The Onion‘s attempt to buy Infowars?
A: The Onion initially won the auction for Alex Jones’s Infowars assets in late 2024, intending to turn the site into a parody platform. However, the sale was officially rejected by a US bankruptcy judge in December 2024, who cited flaws in the auction process. Despite the setback, The Onion‘s publisher, Global Tetrahedron, has indicated in recent 2025 interviews that they are still “absolutely trying” to regain control of the Infowars assets. The saga is ongoing.
Q: Who currently owns The Onion?
A: The Onion is currently owned by Global Tetrahedron, a firm created by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson. Global Tetrahedron acquired The Onion from G/O Media in April 2024. The new ownership has overseen a significant redesign of the website, a reduction in advertising, and the relaunch of a monthly print subscription edition.
Q: Does The Onion use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write its jokes?
A: No. The Onion‘s CEO, Ben Collins, has been an outspoken critic of AI in satire, stating that the technology cannot replicate the nuanced absurdity and cultural context required for genuine humor. The publication maintains a policy of human-driven content creation, viewing the artistic integrity of its satire as dependent on human writers.
Q: Why are people constantly fooled by The Onion‘s articles?
A: The repeated confusion stems from two main factors: the viral spread of headlines on social media platforms, where users often share articles without reading beyond the title, and the blurring of lines between extreme reality and satire in the modern political and cultural environment. The Onion employs a formal, Associated Press-like journalistic tone, which adds a layer of superficial credibility that contributes to the confusion.
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