Seven weeks. No correction. And “Jack Mehoff” is still on the list.
As Michigan voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Jon Levine of the Washington Free Beacon checked in on the much-hyped “Jews for Abdul” roster The New York Times trumpeted back on September 17, and found the famous prankster’s name still sitting there, proud as ever. Levine pointed out that the Times never acknowledged that the gag name torpedoes the whole story, and the Times still hasn’t run a correction.
The New York Times will openly and without shame publish a list of “Jews for Abdul” which includes the name “Jack Mehoff” and then completely ignore that this fatally compromises the whole story and just power through it
Don’t even see a correction anywhere to this piece —… pic.twitter.com/uI8zB7Y964
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) November 3, 2026
Quite a shelf life for a joke your average eighth-grader would catch.
MIDTERM ELECTIONS LIVE: AMERICA PICKS SIDES WITH CONGRESS ON THE LINE
The Times piece showcased a letter from supposed Michigan Jews backing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in his Senate bid against Republican Mike Rogers. Organizers bragged the list had topped 1,000 signatures. But critics pointed out the names were scooped up through a wide-open online form run by Michigan Jews for Democracy, meaning anyone with Wi-Fi and a sense of humor could sign. Skeptics also noted that some of the touted Jewish leaders came from fringe groups.
“In this list of ‘Jewish leaders’ there are five rabbis. One ‘is the first rabbi to lead a Unitarian Universalist Congregation.’ None lead mainstream congregations,” Professor David Bernstein of George Mason University posted on X. One leads a tiny Reconstructionist group that meets in a church. Another is part-time, leading a small congregation in part-time services every other week. The other two have no congregations.”
The letter painted Rogers as a far-Right danger to Jewish safety, while admitting some signers had misgivings about El-Sayed himself.
Mr. Mehoff’s misgivings, if any, remain unrecorded.
What makes it extra embarrassing is that Jack’s a repeat offender. In April 2016, The Baltimore Sun quoted a “Jack Mehoff” at a political rally, a blunder CBS Detroit gleefully covered. A decade later, the same punchline got past the most famous newsroom on the planet, and nobody there has bothered to deal with it since.
Nearly two months, countless clicks, one fake name, zero fixes. The Times didn’t just fall for the oldest trick in the book. It has decided to live with it.
Polls close Tuesday night. The list, apparently, never will.
At press time, the Times had not updated the story, and Jack Mehoff remained, as far as anyone can tell, a committed Michigan voter.
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