French scientist pranks netizens with a fake picture of a red star

However, a few hours after his tweet went viral, Klien revealed that the picture he shared was fake. Instead of a distant star, he had shared a photograph of a sliced chorizo (a type of pork sausage) that was taken against a black background.

In the tweets that clarified that the image of Proxima Centauri, claimed to have been taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, was fake, Klein urged the netizens to not blindly believe things that they see online, even if they come from people with authority or high credentials.

Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.
Elle a été prise par le JWST.
Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z

— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022

Au vu de certains commentaires, je me sens obligé de préciser que ce tweet montrant un prétendu cliché de Proxima du Centaure relevait d’une forme d’amusement. Apprenons à nous méfier des arguments d’autorité autant que de l’éloquence spontanée de certaines images….

— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022

Maybe it pairs well with this (not a real) picture of DNA. https://t.co/7IxiPaXXuf pic.twitter.com/1bA1PoLTMt

— Patrick Deelen (@PatrickDeelen) August 6, 2022

I got inspired by him pic.twitter.com/rfKwUFPQeh

— hi, I am Alex (@theaweeeee) August 9, 2022

Ever since I heard about the French researcher who tried to pass off a slice of chorizo as a distant sun on Twitter, I’ve had this 90s grunge classic in my head. 😎🤘 pic.twitter.com/pdV1ktDocP

— Amie Burke (@amieburkeabomb) August 8, 2022

This is a god tier level troll.

Beautiful. Just utterly beautiful. https://t.co/Da4Qr5sKYL

— Tinker 🔆 (@TinkerSec) August 8, 2022

I know there’s a lot going on, but have we talked enough about how that scientist faked a photo of “a distant star” but it was a slice of chorizo?

— Lucy Carson (@LucyACarson) August 10, 2022

bout to eat this slice of chorizo pic.twitter.com/eh8zTCEouk

— ً (@thelettuceman9) August 5, 2022

This is disgraceful conduct. The public’s trust in scientists is at an all-time low (e.g. antivax and anti-mask groups) and you’re pulling stunts like this that further undermine the works of scientists as a whole

— Andrew Leung, Ph.D (@OhanaUnited) August 6, 2022

I started to follow you only because of chorizo… Please, don’t apologise for that splendid joke!

— Mirna Megyeral (@Megyeral) August 5, 2022

Many people were amused at Klien’s prank. While praising his sense of humour, a Twitter user wrote, “This is a god tier level troll. Beautiful. Just utterly beautiful.”

However, many netizens criticised Klien for his tweet as they believed it added to the anti-science bias that is plaguing a large section of society. Echoing this sentiment, a Twitter user argued, “This is disgraceful conduct. The public’s trust in scientists is at an all-time low (e.g. antivax and anti-mask groups) and you’re pulling stunts like this that further undermine the works of scientists as a whole.”