Fake News: Gérard Jugnot Did NOT Die This Morning

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Gérard Jugnot Did NOT Die This Morning

Did French actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer Gérard Jugnot die early in the morning? No, that's not true: the story was posted by some joker to a prank website where anyone can publish realistic-looking news articles but the "news" has not been confirmed anywhere.

The story originated from an article published on actualite.co on February 3, 2019 titled "La mort de Gérard Jugnot tôt ce matin ." (archived here) which read:

C'est une si mauvaise nouvelle pour le cinéma Français et pour le cinéma en lui même ce matin , dans les bouches du Rhône , le célèbre acteur Gérard Jugnot est décédé d'une crise cardiaque vers 4h00 du matin selon le médecin légiste . Lui a qui ont doit les plus grand film Français dont (Mr Batignole) . Née le 4 mai 1951 , il est mort à l'âge de 67 ans en laissant sa famille complètement hanentie de chagrin . Un grand hommage lui seras rendue le 7 avril à Paris , sa ville natale . Lui seras rendue aussi un hommage à la télé . Restons connectés au réseaux sociaux pour plus amples informations .

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

La mort de Gérard Jugnot tôt ce matin .

C'est une si mauvaise nouvelle pour le cinéma Français et pour le cinéma en lui même ce matin , dans les bouches du Rhône , le célèbre acteur Gérard Jugnot est décédé d'une crise cardiaque vers 4h00 du matin selon le médecin légiste . Lui a qui ont doit les plus grand film Français dont (Mr Batignole) . Née le 4 mai 1951 , il est mort à l'âge de 67 ans en laissant sa famille complètement hanentie de chagrin . Un grand hommage lui seras rendue le 7 avril à Paris , sa ville natale . Lui seras rendue aussi un hommage à la télé . Restons connectés au réseaux sociaux pour plus amples informations .

But actualite.co carries a disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

A Propos
Actualite.co est un site de divertissement, des blagues sont créées par les utilisateurs. Ces blagues sont humoristiques, fictives , qui ne devraient pas être prises au sérieux!

Translation:

About

Actualite.co is an entertainment website, the jokes are created by the users. These jokes are humorous, fictional and should not be taken seriously.

The site is part of a much larger network of sites that all work or worked on the same principle:

  • www.12minutos.com
  • www.24aktuelles.com
  • www.24hnoticias.com
  • www.actualites.co
  • www.actualitesdujour.fr
  • www.breakingnews365.net
  • www.cnoticias.net
  • www.en-bref.fr
  • www.nachrichten.de.com
  • www.nachrichten247.de
  • www.nachrichten365.com
  • www.net-infosnews.com
  • www.noticias-frescas.com
  • www.notizzia.com
  • www.nsfnews.com
  • www.react2424.com
  • www.react365.com
  • www.toutelinfo.fr
  • www.trend-news.com
  • www.youreact247.com
  • www.flashinfo.org

  • www.prankyourfriends.com
  • www.yam.fr

react365.jpg

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!

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See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  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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