I duckduckgo'ed "nose gear collapse" earlier and it seems it may be an issue that's more common than expected? At least there were lots of images of airplanes with broken front wheels and the nose touching the floor.
This is a joke about "The Front Fell Off", a classic comedy video from a few decades ago.
If you haven't experienced the awesomeness of "The Front Fell Off", do yourself a favor and seek it out on youtube... you won't be disappointed.
Also check out All Birds Are Cats by the same duo.
Joke ? Those people were serious.
I learned something new. That also explain why it was a quote and I didn't found the quoted part in the news item itself. :)
From the picture and the text this aircraft was parked at the gate. During a hard landing the nose gear may collapse but not while being parked. And while parked there are protections to prevent retraction. However, these can be overridden by maintenance.
Well this time it at least didn't fall into the environment.