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From Website Crashes to Late Night Fun: Fake News Awards Revealed

Donald Trump’s “Highly-Anticipated 2017 Fake News Awards” were doled out Wednesday, Jan. 17 and while no actual statues were given, that didn’t stop late-night hosts from taking it on and making it their own.

Still, journalists were able to access a cached version of the page and revealed a so-called winners list to include New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Brian Ross of ABC News and CNN in first, second and third place. Other earners include Time magazine, Washington Post and Newsweek with CNN earning three additional spots on the list.

In response, late-night hosts like Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee chimed in, with Noah and Bee poking fun at the website crashing.

“404s & Heartbreak,” Noah tweeted with the error page. Bee, on the other hand, used Trump’s oft-said “Sad!” exclamation against him by tweeting it in a screenshot of the GOP website error.

“#TheFakies #Dishonesties #Bandwidthies” she hashtagged the tweet.

Colbert opened his show by admittedly lying to the audience about his Fake News Award win but Jimmy Kimmel took his coverage of the event even further.

While acknowledging Trump’s hatred for CNN, Kimmel had network host Wolf Blitzer via fake satellite to accept the Donald Trump Dishonest and Corrupt Media Award for Fake News for 2018.

Only it wasn’t actually Wolf Blitzer, but his father pretending to be the anchor.

“Thanks, Jimmy, I have so many people to acknowledge,” the faux Blizer said. “First I want to thank our fake-news writers, who brilliantly made our bulls— all year long. I want to thank our special-effects team, who made it look like the president threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans. And, most importantly, I want to thank President Trump for this trophy of a child’s fist giving the middle finger.”

And it wasn’t just late night hosts chiming in on the ceremony. Chrissy Teigen held a mock ceremony that included her sitting bored in a theater surrounded by seats marked for news outlets like CNN and MSNBC.

Additionally, everyday social media users gave their input.

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