At London’s Pride parade this year, CNN reported spotting a banner representing the terrorist organization ISIS. The implied message seemed to be: ISIS is everywhere, even in a gay pride parade! Only later did someone point out that the flag was adorned not with Arabic letters, as is the jihadist flag used by ISIS, but instead with what appeared to be sex toys or possibly sex organs in silhouette. CNN was roundly ridiculed in the media, including in a sketch by Conan O’Brien. In the network’s defense, the flag was clearly intended to resemble the jihadist banner of which it was a parody. Still, it was a pretty crude knock-off; and then there’s the fact that ISIS throws suspected gay people off tall buildings, which should have been a red flag for CNN right there—and the fact that images on the banner were foot-long naughty bits.
