No Daniel Radcliffe Has Not Tested Positive for Coronavirus
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No, Harry Potter megastar Daniel Radcliffe has not tested positive for the coronavirus — but that didn’t stop people falling for a hoax story on social media Tuesday that claimed he had.
Several prominent Twitter users retweeted the fake news, including the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, before realizing that the spoof “BBC News” tweet was false.
The original tweet is gone, and the account suspended. Some subsequent tweets about it were also deleted. But cache images and screenshots of the tweet that suckered so many are still around.
A number of Twitter users fessed up to being taken in.
fell for a fake “BBC Breaking News” account saying Daniel Radcliffe was sick with the coronavirus because it was posted in a DM and I didn’t scroll far enough down to see it was fake
— lvl 45 chao$ potu$ (@thetomzone) March 10, 2020
i got got by the fake “Daniel Radcliffe tests positive for coronavirus” tweet and now i will unfortunately never be coming into work again
— maxwell (@maxwellstrachan) March 10, 2020
Jesus. People with major followings are retweeting this obvious fake tweet. Journalists even. There really is no hope. RIP professionalism. RIP fact checking. RIP common sense. https://t.co/krdXzWSSPT
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) March 10, 2020
jfc guys, including REPORTERS AT NATIONAL NEWS OUTLETS stop sharing the fake daniel radcliffe tweet
— Abby Ohlheiser (@abbyohlheiser) March 10, 2020
Even British radio broadcaster Iain Dale allegedly announced the news as if it were real on his LBC show before discovering he had been tricked.
Iain Dale just diagnosed Harry Potter with Coronavirus, on LBC.
Thankfully, Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t have Coronavirus and Mr Dale read out a fake tweet.
He has now corrected himself.
— Rachael Swindon #UTFC (@Rachael_Swindon) March 10, 2020
As of writing, Radcliffe has not tested positive for the coronavirus.
