The Onion: From Fake Sexiest Man Alive to Real News

When it comes to the real and the unreal, it’s not always easy to tell the difference, especially when it comes to our political leaders.
Someone’s always having an affair. Someone else is embezzling money. This guy is pretending to be straight when he’s gay. That person is the supreme leader of North Korea  and  the sexiest man alive.
Yes, you read that last sentence right. Kim Jong Un has been named The Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.
Of course, we all know that The Onion is a satirical newspaper, and that the story about Kim Jong Un is in good fun. But the online version of China’s Communist Party Newspaper didn’t, and ran with the story yesterday.
The People’s Daily quoted the Onion story, which stated: “With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true.” They also featured a 55-page pictorial spread of the Supreme Leader.
Will Tracy  is the editor of The Onion, and is well-acquainted with the  intersections  of real news, fake news, and real fake news.  
The latest book from the Onion team, which just came out last month, is called “The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia of Existing Information.”
“I was not aware that there were 55 photos of Kim Jong Un in existence,” Tracy says. “Our official response was that The People’s Daily in China is a Communist subsidiary of The Onion Incorporated. They are one of our far east bureaus,”   Tracy said. “Good work, comrades!”