Claim: Canadian singer Celine Dion died in a plane crash at age 51, according to a website world.cnntrendingnews.com.
The purported CNN website posted an undated video that supposedly contains a report about the famous singer’s alleged death. The thumbnail in the preview showed a still image of Dion and a date “1968 – 2019.”
When the video is clicked, it redirects to another website worldnews.hytactv.info. A caption superimposed at the bottom of the screen reads: “Breaking news: Superstar and singing leading Celine Dion dead at 51.”
One of two reporters can be heard saying, “We have some terribly sad news to report this morning, heartbreaking, and devastating.” However, the video immediately stops and a warning message pop-up tells the viewer to share it first to be able to watch it in full.
The post was flagged by Facebook Claim Check, a tool that spots potential false claims spreading on the platform. The tool also indicated that the post was first shared on November 5. At least two other websites such as toptrending.localnewsportal.info and online.newstrends2k18.info posted the same claim days after world.cnntrendingnews.com posted it.
Rating: FALSE
The facts: There is no such news from the legitimate Cable News Network (CNN) site. The claim surfaced days after Celine Dion visited Detroit in Michigan on November 6 for her “Courage World Tour” concert.
Dion recently promoted her album called “Courage” on her Instagram post.
The original video is a CNN New Day report, a US-based CNN TV program, featuring the death of American chief Anthony Bourdain in June 2018. As seen in the claim, the reporter indeed said the few lines at the start of the video. However, the word on the screen was altered with the name of Celine Dion, making it appear as if it was reported by the news outlet.
The talent agency of the singer also dismissed the claim in an AFP Canada fact check published on November 7.
Aside from AFP, other international fact-checking organizations such as Snopes and Hoax-Slayer also debunked the claim. According to Snopes, this has been the second time that the singer has been targeted in a death hoax. The first was in 2013. (READ: 9 celebrity deaths that have been proven false)
According to WhoIs, a database containing basic information of registered domains, the world.cnntrendingnews.com was created only on November 3, toptrending.localnewsportal.info on November 1, and online.newstrends2k18.info on November 2. The worldnews.hytactv.info site, where the clickbait video was redirected, is an old site created in October 2018.
The official site of CNN World is edition.cnn.com. – Glenda Marie Castro/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
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