Did rapper Post Malone die from "Ligma"? No, that's not true: some joker uploaded a fake story to a prank generator website which uses a domain name that is easily confused with CBS News claiming the singer passed away. None of it is real, not even the disease.
The story originated from an article published on September 16, 2018 at cbsnews.us (not cbsnews.com) titled "Post Malone dies from Ligma" (archived here) which opened:
Austin Richard Post (bon July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail so they might have thought it was an actual CBS News article:
Post Malone dies from Ligma
Austin Richard Post (bon July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer.
But there is no disease named "Ligma": it was a fictional ailment made up as part of an internet joke:
Ligma
Ligma is a fictional disease associated with a death hoax orchestrated by Instagram user ninja_hater that claimed Fortnite streamer Ninja had passed away after contracting the disease. The intention of this joke was to prompt concerned fans to ask what Ligma is, to which participants in the hoax would respond with "ligma balls" ("lick my balls"), a joke setup similar to Deez Nuts and Updog.
The site where the hoax was published is part of a network of prank websites centered around thefakenewsgenerator.com that allow anyone to create a realistic looking fake news article. The network offers a selection of misleading domain names that can be used to make it look like an article came from real news websites such as CBS News, Associated Press or The New York Times. Each hoax article comes with following disclaimer at the top of the page:
You clicked this fake news story. Now make your own!
We wrote about cbsnews.us before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Raising Cane's NOT Closing All Restaurants By End Of 2019
- Fake News: Chris Brown NOT Found Unconscious In His Los Angeles Home
- Fake News: San Antonio NOT To Become First City In Texas To Legalize Marijuana
- Fake News: Rapper "Post Malone" NOT Shot Outside of Californian Music Venue
- Fake News: Rapper Kendrick Lamar NOT Shot Outside Los Angeles Studio & Is NOT In Critical Condition
