Deadline Hollywood Accidentally Diagnoses Mike Pence With Coronavirus With Misfired Pre-Write; Issues Apology

Sarah RumpfOct 8th, 2020, 8:11 pm
 

Deadline Hollywood had an embarrassing flub on Thursday, accidentally posting and tweeting a pre-written article incorrectly stating that Vice President Mike Pence had tested positive for the coronavirus. The article has been pulled down and the tweet deleted, but not, of course, before the error was captured in screenshots and Internet archives.

President Donald Trump, along with dozens of members of the Trump campaign, White House staff, and Republican Senators, have all tested positive for Covid-19 within the past week.

Pence is known to have been in proximity with some of the people who have tested positive, although he has maintained that he has tested negative and was safe to attend the vice presidential debate with Sen. Kamala Harris Wednesday evening. Nonetheless, his apparently bloodshot eyes at the debate, and the last-minute cancellation of his planned trip to Indianapolis on Friday, were causing rumors to bubble up online, which his office has denied.

Then the Deadline article went live. The original post has been taken down and now displays a “404 Page Not Found” message, but the original text was preserved on the Wayback Machine’s internet archives, and several people also captured screenshots of the tweet and article.

“PREP. DO NOT PUBLISH UNTIL THE NEWS CROSSES. Vice President Mike Pence Tests Positive For Coronavirus 8 Days After Donald Trump,” read the headline.

“The two most powerful men in America now have coronavirus,” began the article’s text, stating that Pence “announced late Wednesday” that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

This information was incorrect; no such announcement had been made by Pence or anyone from the White House or campaign, even off the record. The “PREP. DO NOT PUBLISH UNTIL THE NEWS CROSSES.” tag, while clearly not sufficient to prevent accidental publication, was helpful in preventing the false story from spreading as actual news, instead of an embarrassing error.

The Deadline editors later posted an apology on Twitter, stating that a “draft post” regarding Pence testing positive “that was never meant to publish was accidentally posted on Deadline.”

The statement continued on the Deadline website, stating that the article “was pulled down immediately” and “never should have been posted.”

“Deadline will take steps to see this kind of thing never happens again,” the statement concluded. “Apologies to the Vice President and our readers. We regret the error.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.