Fake News: Jalen Hurts Departure NOT Confirmed

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Jalen Hurts Departure NOT Confirmed

Is quarterback Jalen Hurts transfering to the Houston Cougars from the Alabama Crimson Tide where he is currently playing? No, that's not true: the "news" was published by some joker on a prank website, it is not real.

The story originated from a prank article published on April 25, 2018 on Channel 45 News titled "Jalen Hurts Departure Confirmed. - Channel 45 News" (archived here) which read in full:

The University of Houston confirms the transfer of Jalen Hurts to the Cougars. The Hurts family released a statement earlier this evening via Twitter.

The social media summary of the article looked real enough:

Jalen Hurts Departure Confirmed. - Channel 45 News

The University of Houston confirms the transfer of Jalen Hurts to the Cougars. The Hurts family released a statement earlier this evening via Twitter.

But a quick search on Twitter confirmed no such announcement was made recently, not by the Hurts family nor anyone else.

The site Channel 45 News is part of a network of prank sites operated by Korry Scherer from Milwaukee, WI. according to WHOIS data. The site lets visitors create their own realistic looking fake news stories to prank friends and family.

pranked.jpg

The site seems to be part of a network of similar sites. So far we've found these, but there may be others:

  • channel22news.com
  • channel23news.com
  • channel24news.com
  • channel28news.com
  • channel33news.com
  • channel34news.com
  • channel40news.com
  • channel45news.com
  • channel46news.com

The sites all come with disclaimers at the bottom of each prank:

We do NOT support FAKE NEWS!!! This is a Prank website that is intended for Fun. Bullying, Violent Threats or posts that Violate Public Order are NOT permitted on this Website.

We wrote about channel45news.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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