Was singer Rob Halford found unresponsive in his home in San Diego? No, that's not true and he's not dead either. Some prankster spread the rumor by using a website that allows anyone to upload any headline for pranking purposes. No reliable news source is talking about it so it is not true.
The story originated from an article published on React365 on October 23, 2018 titled "Metal Legend, Rob Halford Found Unresponsive in San Diego Home." (archived here) which opened:
Rob Halford, best known for being the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Judas Priest was found unresponsive in his San Diego home at 2:44 PM. He was taken to the nearest hospital and is receiving treatment. Investigators found Opiates not too far from where Halford was laying. The band asks that you respect his privacy at the time.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail so they may have thought it was real news:
Metal Legend, Rob Halford Found Unresponsive in San Diego Home.
Rob Halford, best known for being the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Judas Priest was found unresponsive in his San Diego home at 2:44 PM. He was taken to the nearest hospital and is receiving treatment. Investigators found Opiates not too far from where Halford was laying. The band asks that you respect his privacy at the time.
But no reliable news outlets are reporting on the story and the official Judas Priest band twitter is also silent on the issue.
The site that published the story is a prank website where users can submit their own headline, description and photo to create realistic looking prank news articles.
Users don't even need to upload their own image, there is a built-in search function that will pull an appropriate image from Google image search.
The site is part of a larger network of prank sites all using the same basic layout but sometimes in different languages. It appears to be run by a Belgian company named Mediavibes or Media Vibes which is managed by a man named Nicolas Gouriou according to registration records.
Each site in the network comes with a disclaimer (sometimes translated into a different language) that reads:
This website is an entertainment website, jokes are created by users. These are humourous jokes, fantasy, fictional, that should not be seriously taken or as a source of information.
So don't fall for this prank now that we've warned you about it!
We wrote about react365.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Man Did NOT Cut Off His D*ck To Show Faithfulness To Estranged Girlfriend
- Fake News: Salem Oregon NOT to Implement Sharia Law
- Fake News: Williamsburg, Kentucky NOT Voted Methamphetamine Capitol Of The State
- Fake News: Two Great White Sharks NOT Found Swimming In Laurel Lake Near London, Kentucky
- Fake News: Louisville, Kentucky NOT Having Emergency Outbreak Of Deadly Virus
