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A Whole Bunch Of People On Facebook Thought Steven Spielberg Killed A Real Dinosaur

Fact check: The triceratops became extinct 66 million years ago. The director of Jurassic Park has never shot one for sport.

This photo of Steven Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park went hugely viral this week.

Internet humourist Jay Branscomb posted it on Facebook with the 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."

A lot of people didn't get the joke, and thought Spielberg really had shot a dinosaur.

This person called him an "inhumane prick".

So far, the image has had 30,000 shares and attracted 10,000 comments, including...

Steven Spielberg, I'm disappointed in you. I'm not watching any of your movies again ANIMAL KILLER.
Disgraceful. No wonder dinosaurs became extinct. Sickos like this kill every last one of them as soon as they are discovered. He should be in prison.
He should be killed instead. Beautiful creature innocently living millions of years ago then this monster comes along.

Some commenters made the obvious point that the image was supposed to be satirical.

But it didn't necessarily make any difference.

In response to the deluge of confused comments, Branscomb replied with another photo of Spielberg.

This time the comment read: "Folks, we need your help identifying the vicious shark-killer shown posing with his illegal prey. Sharks are essential to the ecosystem and their waters are protected off the coast of California. If you have any knowledge of this fiend's identity or whereabouts, please contact authorities immediately."

But by this point the thread had taken on a crazy life of its own, spawning all manner of jokes and Spielberg references.

And ultimately the whole thing just got really confusing.