The bloodied face of a young, blonde-haired woman has been held up as an example of the violence endured by Donald Trump supporters at the hands of “Liberals”.
But the image shared more than 30,000 times on Facebook is not that of an innocent Trump supporter, battered by vicious Democrats, rather a woman fending off the Evil Dead.
Australian actress Samara Weaving is the blood-covered woman and the photo is actually from the makeup chair on set of the U.S. television series Ash vs Evil Dead.
The actress posted it on her Instagram account in early January, while working on the horror/comedy series — a spin-off of the 1981 Sam Raimi-directed cult classic film, The Evil Dead.
But a Facebook user identified as Greg McCurdy shared the months-old image on his account on June 4, claiming that Weaving’s appearance was “The result of Fascism in America… simply because she was a Trump supporter.”
There were indeed violent clashes involving anti-Trump protesters last week outside a rally in San Jose, California, where punches —and eggs — were thrown at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s supporters.
But Weaving has no horse in this election race, pointing out on Twitter she’s not even a U.S. citizen and can’t vote in this fall’s election.
That post caught the eye of the star of Ash vs Evil Dead, Bruce Campbell — who plays Ash in the television series and the two Evil Dead movies.
Campbell called on Conservative Nation to “check your facts” and said it was “sad” his co-star was made the face of a political hoax.
Neither McCurdy, who has also shared posts supporting Trump’s controversial plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico, nor Conservative Nation have removed the posts from their respective accounts despite the hoax being debunked.
The photo continues to be shared by people who are unaware it’s been proven to be fake.
Weaving wasn’t the only actress to fall victim to such a hoax. Pro-Trump social media accounts passed off Mexican telenovela actress Luisa Rubina as a 15-year-old victim of an attack by an anti-Trump mob.
The image of 17-year-old Rubina, with blood running from gashes on her face, are a still of a scene from the Univision soap opera La Rosa de Guadelupe.
Rubino told Fusion, which is owned by Univision, that she most certainly was not beaten up at the San Jose rally.
“The caption says I was beaten up by anti-Trump people, as if I were a Trump supporter. And that’s not the case because I’m Mexican and I support the Latino community.”
In the year since he declared his presidential aspirations, Trump has been accused of inciting hatred and in the past week high-ranking members of his own party said statements Trump made about a U.S. judge, of Mexican heritage, were “racist”.