Sadly, a baby gorilla called Harambe McHarambeface does not actually exist
A baby gorilla has been given the name Harambe McHarambeface by a Chinese zoo after an online public vote. It fooled plenty of actual news outlets, including this one, the Mirror and the Metro. “Because anything involving Harambe, the dead gorilla-turned-meme, is too good to check”.
According to a site for something called the Boston Leader, staff at the Jinhua Zoo in Zhejiang, China, had no choice but to call a baby gorilla Harambe McHarambeface after it became the overwhelming favourite in its online poll. The original story even went so far as to include fabricated quotes from officials at the fictitious zoo.
The site credits “Chinese-language media”.
Nowhere can any legitimate Chinese- or English-speaking news outlet find evidence that this naming contest took place, and several reports note that Jinhua Zoo has no social media accounts and hasn’t updated its website in three years!
Harambe McHarambeface also pays tribute to a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla who was killed in May 2016 at Cincinnati Zoo when a three-year-old climbed into the gorilla’s enclosure and the animal was shot to ensure the safety of the child.
The other part of the name, the McFace bit, derives from ultimately unsuccessful attempts by the British public to name a new polar research ship Boaty McBoatface, a name which topped a public vote but was ignored in favour of the name, the RRS Sir David Attenborough. As soon as the internet got a hold of the voting, the name RSS Boaty McBoatface dominated the competition, the Guardian noted. The write-in name “Boaty McBoatface” emerged as the victor.
The Daily Mail reached out to Jinhua Zoo and has not heard back.