New Delhi:An unintended slip by an American television channel, misspelling the name of the world's most wanted terrorist, spread like wildfire on the internet and opened the floodgates of Osama bin Laden-related humour on Monday.
As news broke that al-Qaeda boss Osama bin Laden was killed in a gunfight with American forces in Pakistan, the media, in its excitement to report it live, and report it first, made the one faux pas they told themselves to be extremely wary of since the days of the US Presidential elections - misspelling Osama as Obama.
Fox News in St Louis, Missouri ran a breaking news ticker that read "Reports: Obama bin Laden dead". A screen grab was duly taken by a netizen and posted on Twitter to be shared by hundreds as journalists flinched at stories accidentally filed misspelling Osama as Obama.
Most US news organization took the next best recourse - follow the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) example and spell Osama as Usama, or the Urdu variant of the name, to avoid confusion. It did not, however, stop the Twiteratti from taking potshots at their popular celebrities and leaders.
"BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump demands to see Osama bin Laden's Death certificate," a tweet said poking fun at the American millionaire's sustained campaign against US President Barack Obama and the controversy surrounding his place of birth.
"Sorry, you're at the wrong gate, Osama. – Jesus," said another tweet.
However, the mistakes are being seen as a backhanded complement to the American President, substantiating the popularity of the man whose name is repeated more often in world's power circles than that of the al-Qaeda leader in hiding since the September 11, 2001 attacks in America.
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