Fake News: Rapper Drake reported dead at the age of 34

Introduction

TMZ had reported Drake’s death after a drive by shooting happened on the evening of November 14th 2020. These accusations first appeared on social media, Twitter to be precise. This fake news was trending as number one on Twitter, just to find out that it was a death hoax, meaning that this was not at all true. At first glance, this may seem as important and sad news for his family, friends, and fans. Death is no joke and false rumors should not be published about it. After searching Drake’s death, a plethora of google searches came up including Snopes.com confirming that this was false news. It also states how Drake’s family had confirmed this death. But this in fake was not true. He is very much alive and healthy.

Everyone has their opinions about the death hoax. Some people truly believed that Drake was in fact dead. Twitter took it upon themselves to pin on the trending post that it was a hoax and that Drake was not confirmed dead. It clearly stated that the images spreading across the internet were in fact photoshopped, meaning that someone took it upon themselves to crop out the real person who was dead at the drive by shooting, and changing the image with Drake’s photo. Why would someone do this you ask? We have yet to find out. Most people do it for “cloat” meaning that they do it for attention and for recognition. This is the wrong way to get noticed. Celebrities in general have a hard time with rumors and fake news about them, since in fact they are known in the world as influencers.

Fans were going crazy at the fact that they really thought that Drake was dead. A fan tweeted “ I saw #RIPDrake trending and had a heart attack”. This is a prime example of how fake news can ruin people’s lives. Another known blog called Genius spread more widely. Its headline stated “Drake’s Family Releases Info Saying Drake Passed Away”. This spread more widely because it clearly states how his family released information about his passing. If you read closely, you can almost automatically confirm that this is fake news because of the abbreviation of “information” being used as “info”. If this was in fact true, there would have never been any slang being used.

Conclusion

Overall, Drake is in fact not dead. This is a prime example of how fake news can be spread around the world and affect multiple people’s lives. TMZ and Genius are the prime reasons for how this news got spreaded around the internet. Twitter took it upon themselves to in fact put an end to these false accusations. In my opinion, i would have sued TMZ and Genius for these false accusations if i were Drake. He was kind enough to not take it to court because i’m sure he knows how blogs and paparazzi can be at times. Fans were going bonkers at the fact that they really and truly believed that Drake was dead at the age of 34. This is how fake news can be a total hassle to everyone.

Works cited

Liles, Jordan, and Jordan Liles. “No, Drake Is Not Dead.” Snopes.com, www.snopes.com/fact-check/drake-is-not-dead/.

Notopoulos, Katie. “This Is How A Rumor That Drake Died Got Started.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 3 Dec. 2015, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/how-a-drake-death-hoax-took-over-the-internet-for-a-day.