Gossip Site Still Spreading False Rumor Of Queen’s Death

Topline

False rumors about Queen Elizabeth’s death swirled on the internet Wednesday as gossip site Hollywood Unlocked claimed to report “exclusive news” that the queen had died, and then refused to retract the story—here’s a breakdown on the spread of the unsubstantiated claim.

Queen Elizabeth II is seen at the Chichester Theatre while visiting West Sussex on November 30, 2017 … [+] in Chichester, United Kingdom.

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Key Facts

Tuesday, Hollywood Unlocked, a celebrity gossip site with 2.8 million Instagram followers led by former reality TV star Jason Lee, posted “exclusive news” from “sources close to the Royal Kingdom” that Queen Elizabeth was found dead before attending British Vogue editor Edward Enninful’s Tuesday wedding, which quickly spread across the internet.

No other sites confirmed the news, and the palace did not take any action signaling it could be true.

The palace has a detailed procedure for alerting the public when the Queen does die, known as Operation London Bridge, a key part of which is that the palace will release an “official notification” of her death, which has not been issued.

In a second post on Instagram Tuesday about Operation London Bridge, Hollywood Unlocked doubled down on its reporting that the queen had died.

As reporters called out the site for spreading a false rumor, Lee said he stood by the report, saying he has “never lied” and has “never been wrong” and that he would be going to a Kanye West concert Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning, now-deleted tweets circulated from an unverified Hollywood Unlocked account under the handle @HollywoodUL which retracted the story about the queen’s death, apologized to the Royal Family and blamed the incident on an “intern” who “published a draft by mistake.”

In response, Lee posted on his personal account saying the statements came from a “fake account,” that Hollywood Unlocked has “not retracted” the story and noted that “there has yet to be an official statement from the Palace” saying otherwise.

Forbes has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.

Key Background

Lee started Hollywood Unlocked in 2015, which has been described by Billboard as an “urban entertainment news destination.” Lee has appeared as a recurring character on the reality show Love and Hip Hop and as a cast member on Nick Cannon’s improv comedy show Wild ‘N Out. Lee hosts a popular podcast, Hollywood Unlocked With Jason Lee [Uncensored], which celebrities like Kanye West, Cardi B, Amber Rose and Floyd Mayweather have appeared on. Hollywood Unlocked has 315,000 subscribers on Youtube, and Lee has nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter and over 500,000 on Instagram.

Tangent

The palace announced Sunday that the queen, 95, had contracted Covid-19, and said Tuesday that she was still experiencing “mild cold-like” symptoms because of it. As dictated by Operation London Bridge, when Queen Elizabeth does die, the prime minister and other senior government officials will be notified in the hours after her death through phone calls. The palace will issue an official announcement and their website will confirm the news. Prince Charles will immediately become king. Queen Elizabeth made a surprising statement earlier this month as she rang in her 70th year on the throne, stating that she would like Charles’ wife, Camilla, to be considered queen consort once Charles becomes king. When Charles wed Camilla in 2005 after getting divorced from Princess Diana, the palace said Camilla would only be known only as princess consort. The queen’s Platinum Jubilee to mark her 70 years of service will be celebrated over a weekend in June.