Comic and “Household Feud” sport present host Steve Harvey died following a tragic accident in early 2024.
Since early 2024, a false rumor claiming comic and “Household Feud” sport present host Steve Harvey was lifeless following a “tragic accident” or automotive crash has endured in quite a few social media posts, YouTube movies and even paid promoting.
Nevertheless, a easy test of Harvey’s live weekday radio present and podcast, “The Steve Harvey Morning Present,” credibly confirmed he was very a lot alive, as of Oct. 17, 2024. A consultant for Harvey declined to touch upon the matter.
As we previously reported, demise hoax purveyors have traditionally focused Harvey a number of instances. He responded (archived) to one of many hoaxes in July 2023 by posting a photograph of himself his telephone, together with the caption, “Me seeing that Rip Harvey is trending.”
Fb Customers Posted the Rumor
For instance of the rumor, on Oct. 17, one Fb consumer posted of Harvey, “Breaking information Steve handed on in a automotive accident yesterday R.I.P.”
In a separate submit from Oct. 9, a consumer posted, “So Steve Harvey was in a automotive accident however has survived to date. Why do folks lie about him passing away?”
A distinct consumer additionally posted on Oct. 9, “I pray Steve Harvey survives this accident. He is such a candy soul to all the time behold on TV.” The identical particular person additionally added in a remark, “Yeah, there is a rumor that he is lifeless and plenty of mentioned he is in a vital situation. I pray he survives! The accident occurred final night time.”
Different customers in a Fb group named Steve Harvey Fans posted a narrative about an unnamed “icon” dying. The image featured in the posts originated from a December 2023 video exhibiting the aftermath of a automotive crash in Los Angeles.
Snopes discovered no proof Harvey was in such a crash across the time of those posts, not to mention that died because of it.
Deceptive YouTube Movies
On YouTube, customers promoted the false Harvey rumor with deceptive movies that includes clickbait-focused titles and thumbnail photos.
For instance, one video uploaded on Oct. 6 displayed the title, “Devastating Information… In a Tragic Accident Yesterday Night time, Steve Harvey Handed Away…” The thumbnail picture confirmed an image of Harvey superimposed on prime of a photograph of a automotive accident. The picture additionally displayed a small image of individuals carrying a casket.
A YouTube consumer created this deceptive thumbnail picture.
Other YouTube videos from earlier within the yr additionally promoted the false rumor Harvey died, together with some mentioning the purported “tragic accident.”
Harvey Dying Hoax Promoted in Fb Adverts
A search of Meta’s advert library discovered that the corporate accepted cash from advertisers for the promotion of demise hoaxes about Harvey for months in 2024, going way back to not less than March. The tech big frequently reports quarterly income numbers within the tens of billions.
Adverts displayed in October on Meta’s platforms Fb, Instagram and Messenger all learn, “Steve Harvey Lifeless? ‘Household Feud’ Followers React To Host’s Dying Trending!”
The advertisements directed customers to obtain information aggregator cell apps from the Google Play Retailer named Information At this time, Each day Information: Native & Alerts and Native Information: Breaking & Newest. All three apps displayed 1000’s of optimistic evaluations and tens of millions of downloads. Based on the apps’ brand information, they had been created by folks or corporations primarily based in China. In the meantime, the Fb pages operating the advertisements displayed web page supervisor data for customers primarily based in China, Brazil and the U.S.
We contacted Meta for remark, asking if the advertisements violated any of their insurance policies and, in that case, how they slipped previous the corporate’s detection. We’ll replace this story if we obtain a response.
