Instagram has blurred the post due to it being false
A false report of Queen Elizabeth’s death could have been the result of a mixup with the recent passing of Queens Of The Stone Age collaborator Mark Lanegan.
The founder of Hollywood Unlocked, Jason Lee, remained confident that he had bypassed the usual channels and beat everyone to the scoop. He had initially written: “Socialites, it is with our deepest regret that we inform you that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has died.
“Sources close to the Royal Kingdom notified us exclusively that Queen Elizabeth had passed away.”
While the internet laughed at the mere idea of the Queen’s death being announced through a US-based gossip website, Lee doubled down on his statement, Tweeting: “We don’t post lies and I always stand by my sources. Waiting for an official statement from the Palace.”
Speaking to Buzzfeed on February 23, Lee maintained his statement and added that he heard the news “directly” from a wedding guest of British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. The Queen, who is currently isolated with covid, was meant to attend the ceremony.
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“I would never post something like this if the person that told me, I did not trust,” Lee said. “People are asking why we posted without allowing the royal family or the Palace to release a statement. Why? Because we break stories. And I’ve broken many stories that have been factual. We have never been wrong.”
Many believe that this report of the monarch’s false death was confused with Queens of the Stone Age collaborator and backing singer Mark Lanegan, who died unexpectedly on Tuesday aged just 57.
Lee allegedly became frustrated after a fake Hollywood Unlocked Twitter account claimed an intern was responsible. Buzzfeed said Lee was annoyed as media outlets had not bothered checking the validity of the account, which we guess can also be said about this entire fake-death saga.
Woke up to some fake account posting a retraction. We do not know that account and we have not retracted our story. There has yet to be an official statement from the Palace. Staying tuned.
— Jason Lee (@theonlyjasonlee) February 23, 2022
While the Palace told the Metro they would not give airtime to such a rumour, a spokesperson from the prime minister’s office confirmed that the Queen and PM Boris Johnson had spoken on the phone that day.
Lee had further claimed that a British military source told him all the top generals had been called to Windsor Castle four hours before his so-called “exclusive” went live.
You don't know how much joy this brought me today. I needed this laugh soooooo bad. https://t.co/9me8NAyKOu
— Dee Phunk (@DeePhunk) February 23, 2022
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, and everything aligns with me feeling very confident, which is why I doubled down on it,” he explained. “Now if I’m wrong, I’ll be the first one to go out there and say, ‘hey, it’s the first time I got it wrong and this is a big wrong, on to the next story’.”
On his process of verifying stories, Lee said they don’t publish stories that “are sourced by people that we don’t know and don’t trust.
“We’ve never led with gossip,” he added.
Related links:
- Russian state TV is seriously claiming ‘Prince Andrew and Queen want war in Ukraine’
- Prince Andrew makes secret nighttime visits to the Queen
- Queen tests positive for coronavirus, Buckingham Palace confirms
