Fake News: Bill Nye The Science Guy NOT Arrested For Manufacturing And Distribution Of Drugs From His Lab

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Bill Nye The Science Guy NOT Arrested For Manufacturing And Distribution Of Drugs From His Lab

Was Bill Nye (also known as The Science Guy) arrested for producing and distributing drugs from his lab? And does he face a long prison sentence because of it? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a website that invents false stories for entertainment purposes. It is not real.

The story went viral again via an article published by HMedia on October 23, 2018 titled "Bill Nye The Science Guy Arrested For Manufacturing And Distribution Of Drugs From His Lab" (archived here) which opened:

LOS ANGELES - It is being confirmed that American scientist and television host Bill Nye, popularly known as 'Bill Nye the Science Guy', has been arrested for allegedly selling and manufacturing illegal drugs such as marijuana, acid, and crystal meth. Authorities say he was operating under the street name "Slim Killa".

Bill Nye was arrested in his Los Angeles home after investigators became suspicious of Nye taking part of the sale and manufacture of illegal drugs. Investigators found pounds of illegal drugs and money in a secret basement in Bill Nye's home, including 6 Million dollars cash, 13 illegal firearms, 121 pounds of marijuana, 2 gallons of LSD, and 63 pounds of crystallized methamphetamine, commonly known as simply crystal meth, as well as boxes of condoms, women under garments, and a stripper pole in the very lab.

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

Bill Nye The Science Guy Arrested For Manufacturing And Distribution Of Drugs From His Lab

LOS ANGELES - It is being confirmed that American scientist and television host Bill Nye, popularly known as 'Bill Nye the Science Guy', has been arrested for allegedly selling and manufacturing illegal drugs such as marijuana, acid, and crystal meth. Authorities say he was operating under the street name "Slim Killa". Bill Nye was arrested ...

Huzlersmedia is a sister site of "fauxtire" website Huzlers.com, using the same adverstising tags and being promoted through the same Facebook pages. It carries a disclaimer at the bottom of the page which reads:

Huzlers Media is a satrical blog and user submitted video entertainment site that will have you coming back for more. From the people to the people.

The exact same hoax also appeared earlier on Huzlers.com back in 2015:

Bill Nye The Science Guy Arrested For Manufacturing And Selling Illegal Drugs

LOS ANGELES - It is being confirmed that American scientist and television host Bill Nye, popularly known as 'Bill Nye the Science Guy', has been arrested for allegedly selling and manufacturing illegal drugs such as marijuana, acid, and crystal meth. Authorities say he was operating under the street name "Slim Killa".

Since 2015 Nye has appeared in several television shows so it is obvious the story was fake and he wasn't sent off to jail. And if it wasn't true back then you probably shouldn't believe it is now...

We wrote about huzlersmedia.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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