Birds Aren't Real Movement Calls Newsweek's Story 'Blasphemous' Vows to Uncover 'Avian Genocide'

Earlier this week, Newsweek reported on the viral Birds Aren't Real Movement, which has taken the internet by storm, but following our story's publication, which implied that the group is actually satirizing other conspiracy theorists, the movement has responded calling the story "blasphemous" and swore to uncover the truth about "avian genocide."

In a Thursday statement received by Newsweek and tweeted by the movement, current leader Peter McIndoe says that Birds Aren't Real—an organization that claims the government killed all birds and replaced them with surveillance drones—took issue with implications that it was a parody rather than a real movement. Its also worth noting that McIndoe referred to it as a "comedy project" while setting up the interview, but blamed the labeling on an autocorrect error when we spoke.

"Yesterday, viral swamp media 'publication' ​Newsweek attacked the legitimacy and the rich historical legacy of our bird truth movement, founded nearly fifty years ago to bring attention to avian genocide and the draconian bird surveillance tactics put into practice by the U.S. government," McIndoe said in a statement.

The bird-truth continued to say that the piece was an act of "journalistic disrespect" and accused Newsweek of being a "fake news outlet."

McIndoe wrote, "Let us be absolutely clear: we do not condone acts of journalistic gaslighting."

Despite the movement's claims that the coverage was "blasphemous," it did concede that McIndoe's description of what the movement stands for was true (and not a performative piece of satire). Birds Aren't Real has also repeatedly linked to the Newsweek story, which also hints that they're not actually outraged by the piece.

While this all seems like kayfabe for a silly comedy project, the statement also warned that "massive leaks" would be coming out soon. "As we grow stronger in number, more and more highly classified information is being relayed to us by whistleblowers across the nation," McIndoe wrote. "Please be patient as we try to figure out how exactly a dead man's switch is supposed to work."

Even though McIndoe continues to assert that Birds Aren't Real is a legitimate cause and a "facts organization," as he called it during our initial interview, the penultimate paragraph of his statement again seemed like something of a joke, making fun of QAnon conspiracy theorists who have claimed that former President Donald Trump would actually be inaugurated in March, following President Joe Biden's January inauguration. McIndoe congratulated someone named Eric Francis and other members of the "Bird Brigade," what members of the organization call themselves, on being inaugurated on March 16.

The statement concluded: "Stay woke, and remember to smile—you're on camera!"

Despite the group's claims of outrage, this has all gone down in internet history as a very elaborate joke.

Newsweek reached out to McIndoe via email for further comment.