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Steven Spielberg Dinosaur Photo From Jurassic Park Goes Viral on Facebook, Sparks (Fake?) Outrage

Steven Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park in 1993
An old photo of Steven Spielberg posing with a (fake, obviously) dinosaur on the set of Jurassic Park went viral this week after Jay Branscomb posted it as a joke about big-game hunters

Come on, Internet—is your sense of humor extinct? A 20-year-old photo of Steven Spielberg posing with a "dead" dinosaur on the set of Jurassic Park went viral this week, when humorist Jay Branscomb posted it on Facebook in a satirical nod to the recent controversy surrounding teen hunter Kendall Jones.

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Jones became the target of widespread criticism when she shared pictures of herself posing alongside the lions and cheetahs she killed in Africa. The images sparked a Facebook petition that ultimately resulted in them being pulled from the social media site. 

Branscomb cleverly parodied the scandal by posting the Spielberg snapshot from 1993, and adding the following caption: "Disgraceful photo of recreational hunter happily posing next to a Triceratops he just slaughtered. Please share so the world can name and shame this despicable man." 

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The picture quickly went viral, racking up more than 32,700 shares and 10,000 likes. The best part, though—or worst, depending on your point of view—is the comments section of the post, where nearly 6,000 people have weighed in on the picture.

Many commenters are people wanting to prove they're in on the joke, either by ruining the punchline and stating the obvious—that it's a photo of Spielberg on the Jurassic Park set, and that dinosaurs are extinct—or by expressing faux outrage. "That a–hole!" one user joked. "I will find and destroy that monster!!!!!"

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Others wrote things like, "He's a disgusting inhumane prick…a–holes like this piece of s–t are going into these beautiful animals HOME and killing them…it's no different than someone coming into your home and murdering you…that's what's so selfish about ppl that hunt they're uneducated and their way of thinking is welllll these animals are overpopulating and are going to die anyway."

Some appeared to not understand that most of the "outraged" people were joking. They slammed their fellow commenters as "ignorant" and "stupid"—but Branscomb suggested they might be the ones who need a reality check. "Stupid people are too stupid to realize when less-stupid people are pretending to be stupid," he wrote in a follow-up post on Friday, July 11.

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He later posted another faux call to action—a picture of a much younger Spielberg sitting atop a mechanical shark on the set of Jaws back in the 1970s. "Folks, we need your help identifying the vicious shark-killer shown posing with his illegal prey. Sharks are essential to the eco-system and their waters are protected off the coast of California," he wrote. "If you have any knowledge of this fiend's identity or whereabouts, please contact authorities immediately."

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