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14 Sep 2009 21:14

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Culture: Reports of Patrick Swayze’s death: Wildly exaggerated, until it was true

  • Fake death reports kept cropping up for months. Back in May, The Vancouver Sun wrote this article about how reports of Patrick Swayze’s death were tweeted heavily for months, despite the fact they weren’t true. People knew that the actor had been in ill health for months, but many pulled the trigger too early. “Someone shouts out, ‘Patrick Swayze is dead!’ and you’re thrown into action straight away,” notes Hello! Canada editor-in-chief Ciara Hunt. And at that point, it just tweeted out of control. When millions of boys are crying wolf, eventually it doesn’t matter if it isn’t true. source