TORONTO -- Canadian comedian Rick Mercer fired back at the Conservative Party Tuesday after a meme he described as “straight up fake,” suggesting he was encouraging young people to vote Conservative, was posted to a Conservative constituency Facebook page.
In a tweet addressed to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his party, Mercer said, “Your candidate in Burnaby North Seymour is distributing a Meme on social media with my face and the words ‘Vote Conservative’ indicating it is a quote from me. Not true. All fake. Please Stop.”
The meme was originally posted to the Facebook page of the Burnaby North-Seymour Conservative Constituency Association. It featured Mercer’s face with a popular quote from a recent episode of his show, “The Rick Mercer Report.”
“If you are between the ages of 18 and 25 and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around, do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all over the world are dying to do,” read the quote, which Mercer did in fact say on his show.
However, the quote posted to the Conservative Facebook page added the words, “Vote Conservative.”
The post has since been deleted.
In response to a user who shared a picture of the post, asking him if he told people to vote Conservative, Mercer responded, “Nope. Not real. Just a straight up fake by the candidate I guess.”
In a statement to CTV News, the Conservative Party of Canada said, “The post has been deleted. The individual who shared it is not involved on the local campaign.”
