Edwin Vassallo apologises for sharing ‘satanic AIDS banana’ post

Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo has apologised for sharing a Facebook post warning people about satanic AIDS-infected bananas.

Yesterday, Vassallo - a former parliamentary secretary - shared an “warning” about banana injected with “blood containing HIV and AIDS” from his personal profile. “This is Satanism. PLEASE SHARE this post and save others,” the post read.

Rather than the usual messages of sycophantic support, however, Vassallo was given a quick lesson in fact-checking.

“As an elected MP you should be evaluating such posts before scaring people... according to this food safety centre, HIV cannot be transmitted through food,” one user said. “If you cannot decipher a lie on Facebook, how can people trust you?” 

READ MORE: Facebook users turn on Edwin Vassallo’s warning on AIDS-infected bananas

But later in the evening the conservative MP apologised for his mistake.

“I apologise for the mistake I made on my personal profile. When I shared it I had no intention other than to share that ‘information’ so that no harm will come to anyone,” Vassallo wrote.

“Personally, I will take this as a lesson about how widespread fake news has become and how careful we must be before sharing things with others.”

Turning to those ridiculing him, including sections of the local media, Vassallo said the believed it "better to end up in a news report because of an oversight like this...rather than because of some corruption scandal”.

He went on to say that the story had only been picked up because of his beliefs.

“Maybe this story was blown out of proportion because I am considered a conservative MP,” he said.

“I will not stop fighting for what is right because a small and genuine. I will continue to respect those who don’t agree with me.”