Active netizens on X today may have stumbled upon meme of the day that was quoted, shared, liked, referenced widely this Sunday. This popular X post/tweet was made by a handle named @MadrasDiariesMD and it read,

We're not responsible for the news that is spreading.
The one which is circulating Is edited
We've never posted that in any of our handles.

— Madras Diaries  (@MadrasDiariesMD) September 10, 2023

Understandable how this tweet quickly became meme fodder without context. But to the curious cats beyond Tamil Twitter, here is the context behind the tweet:

Rajinikanth starrer Jailer which released in theaters on August 10, 2023 recently made its OTT premiere on Amazon Prime Video. So the chatter around the movie has found a new spike among streaming audience. The sniper shooting scene which was hyped even before Jailer's release has found a new set of fans post Jailer's OTT debut; while it was being awed online an image started circulating that claimed that the scene was originally conceived by Leo director Lokesh Kanagaraj and that the filmmaker had narrated it to Rajinikanth, when he initially wanted the star to be a part of his film. It also claimed that since the scene was used in Jailer without Lokesh's consent, the director is considering not being part of Rajinikanth's Thalaivar 171. 

The image with said information was purported to be from @MadrasDiariesMD, and was quickly used as to attack Rajinikanth and Jailer all day today. Another version of this image claimed that actor Vijay's Leo which releases in theaters on October 19, 2023 will have a scene similar to Jailer's sniper shoot scene.

The second version of this image claimed that both Jailer director Nelson Dilipkumar and Leo filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj are aware of the situation. Only recently, director Nelson addressed the long-standing elephant-in-the-room about Jailer and Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram having similar storylines. Nelson said that he met Lokesh Kanagaraj way ahead of Vikram's release and discussed Jailer's story. Vikram was being shot at this time and Lokesh suggested Nelson to see the shot footage, presumably to avoid a story overlap. 

However Nelson found that only the story establishments were similar and was convinced that changing it for the sake of it would completely compromise his script. A story of Jailer Vs Leo coming out at this point obviously served as a agent of chaos leading to a fan war online. However the day ended with @MadrasDiariesMD putting out this clarification, leaving fans confused if there was any truth to the rumour they fought over all day, in the first place. 

It is worth mentioning here that unsubstantiated information like these aided by almost authentic edits and blind tweets, have become fan-war fodder ever since X (formerly Twitter) came up with new payout policies. Handles with blue ticks and considerable following are often spotted indulging in stoking such fires, and fans are left fending for authenticity among all the noise. 

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//Update: September 11, 2023//

Director #LokeshKanagaraj responds to the #Jailer sniper scene controversy! His statement reads,

"Excited to be joining hands with Thalaivar#Rajinikanth sir for #Thalaivar171 with@sunpictures. An Anirudh musical, an Anbariv stunt"https://t.co/DR5UtLLKBZ

— MovieCrow (@MovieCrow) September 11, 2023