Story:
Breaking News: Macaulay Culkin Found Dead at Age 34.
Other Versions
At about 11 a.m. ET on Sunday (November 30, 2014), our beloved actor Macaulay Culkin passed away. Macaulay Culkin was born on August 26, 1980 in New York. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.
R.I.P. Macaulay Culkin
Analysis:
Various messages shared online come as breaking news to state that the popular Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin was found dead by police in his Manhattan apartment. There have also been some Facebook pages in the name of ‘R.I.P. Macaulay Culkin’. They are not facts!
The ‘news’ that Macaulay Culkin has died has been around since at least 2013, and has been originating from various websites including some Facebook pages.
MSNBC Website
A breaking story from the website msnbc.website in late 2014 reported that Macaulay Culkin was found dead at the age of 34 in his Manhattan apartment – mentioning multiple unconfirmed reports. Mistaking the website for MSNBC news (msnbc.com), some people believed this incomplete and unconfirmed report is real and spread the fake news on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The report on msnbc.website is a hoax and misleading, and notably, the website has only this one live page, no other page including home page seems to be working when we checked.
MediaMass
The second version of the story saying Macaulay Culkin passed away on 30 November 2014 in New York has originated from an article on MediaMass (en.mediamass.net) that presents itself as debunking a rumor of the celebrity death. The article says that the actor’s death rumor originated from a fake ‘R.I.P. Macaulay Culkin’ page that attracted nearly one million ‘likes’. However, the fact of the matter is that MediaMass has a history of publishing such fake stories of celebrity death hoaxes. The MediaMass project is a ‘reverse’ criticism of media through satire. And in fact, MediaMass has been re-publishing the same story (by changing dates) since at least March 2013.
The Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin is alive and well! Post these rumors in early November 2014, the actor posted on Twitter that he is well and is on tour with his comedy band called Pizza Underground, also making a fun of the rumor in that weekend. Celebrities are often targeted in these death hoaxes that are usually used as click-bait.
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
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