Fake News: Whoopi Goldberg NOT Confirmed As New James Bond

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Whoopi Goldberg NOT Confirmed As New James Bond

Will Whoopi Goldberg be the next to play the iconic Agent 007, aka James Bond? No, that's not true: the "news" was made up by a British satire website in response to renewed rumors that black actor Idris Elba was being considered for the role. The Whoopi Goldberg news is completely made up, possibly by Russian spies (note to self: put our top guy on it to find out...).

The story originated from an article published by NewsThump on August 10, 2018 titled "Internet explodes as WHOOPI GOLDBERG confirmed as new James Bond" (archived here) which opened:

As speculation over the next James Bond intensifies, producers of the record-breaking franchise have revealed that Whoopi Goldberg is going to be next actor in the Aston Martin.

Following speculation that Idris Elba might be the new Bond, the internet became awash with people complaining that a fictional character simply couldn't be portrayed by a black actor because of reasons.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

Internet explodes as WHOOPI GOLDBERG confirmed as new James Bond

As speculation over the next James Bond intensifies, producers of the record-breaking franchise have revealed that Whoopi Goldberg is going to be next actor in the Aston Martin.

The satirical article follows in the wake of renewed speculation about Idris Elba being considered for the part:

Idris Elba as James Bond? Fans are shaken and stirred at the possibility

It's that time again when there's speculation that Idris Elba might be cast as James Bond.

NewsThump comes with an about page that explains what is going on:

Welcome to NewsThump! No, really, we mean it.

Honest.

NewsThump is a satirical and spoof news website, taking a daily swipe at current affairs from the UK and around the world. It is published and owned by Thump Publishing Limited.

We aim to be equal opportunity piss-takers and have no particular affiliation or political preference. It is our stated aim to mock absolutely everyone, eventually.

We are not afraid to skip a few steps like checking facts or corroborating sources, and we never let the truth ruin a funny story (it's much easier just to make everything up). So, for clarification - If you read a story on here, then you are NOT supposed to believe it. It has been completely made up purely for entertainment purposes. It's also worth noting that we regularly use rude words and stuff, so you need to be 18 to be reading this. All images are courtesy of iStockphotos/Getty and are used for illustrative purposes only, and anyone depicted is a model.

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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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