A Twitter hoax recently had numerous Morgan Freeman fans concerned that the actor had passed away unexpectedly. A Tweet passed around the website like wildfire on Thursday, claiming that the actor had died. “RT @CNN: Breaking News: actor Morgan Freeman has passed away in his Burbank home” the announcement claimed.
The letters “RT” mean that the post is a “re-tweet” of something that another user has posted. Because the original announcement had allegedly come from CNN, many users believed that it was a true statement and passed it around to other followers. Not only that, but numerous media outlets posted the announcement, including LiveNewsWire, and Bruce Feldman from ESPN.
However when some suspicious members decided to check CNN and see if they had really posted the Tweet, it was nowhere to be found. This made plenty of users wonder if the post had been deleted as a retraction, or if it had simply been a hoax to begin with.
One curious user said, “Now I’m curious if CNN even tweeted a statement about Morgan Freeman, or if someone simply hoaxed the tweet with a ‘RT @CNN’.
CNN made an official statement saying, “CNN did not report Morgan Freeman death.”
