CNN mistakes joke flag for Isis banner

Reporter Lucy Pawle reported that the lettering appeared to be "gobbledygook". Photo / Youtube

To the casual observer, the black flag with unfamiliar white symbols looked out of place among the colourful outfits and banners at London's gay pride march.

Maybe the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant really had infiltrated what jihadists see as a symbol of Western sexual deviance and decadence.

CNN certainly thought so, running photographs of the flag above a banner headline, saying: "Isis flag spotted at gay pride event."

The segment was billed as an exclusive and the network even lined up one of its top security analysts, Peter Bergen, to discuss its appearance.

Just one problem - the flag was a spoof, displaying what might politely be termed "sex toys" against a black background.

No wonder Lucy Pawle, a CNN journalist, was the only person at the parade to worry.

In the since deleted clip, she said she was surprised that no-one else had reacted to the flag.

"This man dressed in black and white waving what appears to be a very bad mimicry of the Isis flag, but a clear attempt to mimic the Isis flag, the black and white flag with the distinctive lettering," she said, adding that she had alerted the police to its presence.

"It's clearly not Arabic. In fact, it looks like it could be gobbledygook," she added.

To his credit, Mr Bergen, who once met Osama bin Laden, tries to introduce a degree of scepticism suggesting the flag may be desigined to poke fun at Isis.

"It could be some kind of almost parody - it's possible," he said. "After all one of Isil's principal goals in territories it controls is to murder gays."

Inevitably the mix-up has been ridiculed on Twitter.

CNN thought a dildo flag was an ISIS flag at gay pride in London 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/8Dj6ekQhkk

— Rick (@rwb08) June 27, 2015

- Daily Telegraph