Twitter Mocks USA Today for Reporting on Cormac McCarthy Death Hoax

USA Today is frantically walking things back after erroneously reporting the death of one of America’s most esteemed novelists and playwrights.

Cormac McCarthy, known for writing Blood Meridian, The Road, and No Country for Old Men, was said to have died from a stroke according to these now-deleted tweets.

The rumor seems to have originated from a Twitter account that Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti used to impersonate publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

URGENT. Author Cormac McCarthy dies for stroke at 82.

— Alfred A. Knopf News (@AKnopfNews) June 28, 2016

This account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti. McCarthy is alive and well.

— Alfred A. Knopf News (@AKnopfNews) June 28, 2016

Approximately 15 minutes after the initial tweet went up, USA Today put up new tweets conceding that they jumped the gun.

UPDATE: Author Cormac McCarthy is not dead, his publicist says. A “rogue” Twitter account posted that information.

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 28, 2016

“Cormac McCarthy is alive and well. We have notified Twitter and we have notified our attorneys,” publicist tells @usatodaylife

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) June 28, 2016

Of course, the Internet is eternal, and the original tweet was up long enough for people to poke fun of it.

Cormac McCarthy is alive and well and still doesn’t care about Twitter.

— Penguin Random House (@penguinrandom) June 28, 2016

BREAKING: The entire continent of Australia just sank beneath the Earth’s crust; I am looking into this report to verify its authenticity.

— Philip Bump (@pbump) June 28, 2016

Never tweet. https://t.co/3vfBw3u8OE

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) June 28, 2016

BREAKING: We were totes first to report news based on a fake Twitter account.
UPDATE: We might’ve gotten that wrong. pic.twitter.com/0TLtVpe9fO

— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) June 28, 2016

It’s generally a good idea to do that *before* tweeting that someone has died pic.twitter.com/iRy7cv7NTk

— Daniel Victor (@bydanielvictor) June 28, 2016

PSA: Mel Brooks is trending because he’s 90, not dead. Thanks for proving you can make more with a flop than a hit: https://t.co/T7V5XyrixK

— Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) June 28, 2016

Come on folks. The purported publisher’s Cormac McCarthy tweet wasn’t even grammatical!

— Tim Hanrahan (@TimJHanrahan) June 28, 2016

Live footage of Cormac McCarthy pic.twitter.com/CorKFQ2Fph

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 28, 2016

[Image via screengrab]

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