Queen Elizabeth Death Tweet a “Silly Prank”
The UK Telegraph reports that BBC journalist Ahmen Khawaja was behind the false tweet that Queen Elizabeth II died. Khawaja, they say, claims it was a “silly prank.”
Here’s the creepy part: The BBC has “regular rehearsals for royal deaths.” They were having one that Ms. Khawaja overheard so she apparently thought it was breaking news that she would break first. “BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBCWorld,” she tweeted. Shortly after that one, she tweeted “Queen Elizabrth [sic] has died. @BBCWorld.”
When Khawaja found out that her information was erroneous, she promptly deleted the tweets but it had already been retweeted several times by her followers. In fact, we came in on the news when they were just showing the tweet and believed it at first ourselves. By then, the journalist had already announced that it was a false alarm on Twitter and apologized for upsetting anyone.
By a strange coincidence, the Queen really was at The King Edward VII Hospital getting her annual check-up.
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