Three white boys held down an African American girl and cut her hair at recess, and somehow, it’s Karen Pence’s fault.

Oh, except it didn’t actually happen. And in fact, the story was pretty fishy right from the beginning, and people should have known.

First, an accusation was made by a black female student at Immanuel Christian School in Virginia. She alleged that three white boys had held her down at recess, insulted her, and cut her dreadlocks off with scissors.

This alleged incident supposedly happened at Immanuel Christian, a private Christian school where the second lady happens to teach. Somehow, outlets decided not only that this story was credible but also that Pence's tangential involvement was relevant to the coverage.

“SIXTH GRADERS HOLD DOWN CLASSMATE, CUT HER DREADLOCKS AT PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL WHERE KAREN PENCE TEACHES,” the screaming headline at Newsweek read. Similar headlines implicated Pence in the incident at left-wing outlets ranging from NBC News to the Advocate .

But stop and think about this for a second: Even if you took the accusation completely at face value and assumed it happened, what on Earth does that actually have to do with Pence? How is mentioning her name even remotely relevant? The only possible interpretation is that she is somehow responsible, or that the second lady contributes to an environment of “hate” that makes these sorts of incidents more likely to happen.

This is liberal media bias at its worst: If Michelle Obama or Jill Biden had volunteered at a school where a crime or some bullying happened to take place later, no news outlet worth its salt would even have reported it as if the two were connected.

So this viral smear of Pence was pretty bogus from the beginning in that the media’s framing of it was extremely disingenuous. But as it turns out, it never even actually happened.

Developing: 6th grade girl who said three classmates cut her hair last week at Virginia school now says her allegations were false, according to statement from school. Story coming soon. — Joe Heim (@JoeHeim) September 30, 2019

The Washington Post reports that the girl in question has admitted she made the incident up and that her accusations were false. Her family has issued a formal apology and retracted the accusation. The school has now acknowledged the fabrication as well.

Why, then, was it originally reported with such blind acceptance and an utter absence of critical thinking? Because, similar to the Jussie Smollett hoax, it suited the liberal media’s narrative: That America is an evil, racist country, and the Trump administration can in some way be blamed for incidents of hate.

The connection is extremely weak? So what. The story turns out not to be true? Shoulder shrug. The left-wing media outlets in question might update their stories. A few will even probably issue retractions. But they’ll still all do the same thing next time a story like this rolls around.