The quick speed of social media creates brutal effects whenever false information uses humorous content to deceive people. The online world turned its attention toward international singer Sam Smith when a serious misinformation hoax engulfed all platforms.
An unusual video appeared on X which depicted someone wearing a Ninja Turtle costume trying a stage dive that resulted in an ungracious and uncomfortable tumble when the audience ran away from him.
Twitter users started spreading false rumours that turned the person in the video into Sam Smith only within the first few hours of its appearance.
The clip was captioned by several accounts with misleading titles like “Sam Smith doing a stage dive at his Seattle show,” igniting confusion and backlash across various platforms.
Several social media users believed the video showed Sam Smith even though they reacted with comments like,
“Wait what!” Several users reacted to the video with comments that read both “That was Sam Smith!?” and “Please tell me this isn’t actually Sam Smith.”
Multiple users launched body-shaming attacks on the video’s subject by falsely identifying them as Sam Smith which in turn angered all of his dedicated followers.
The truth about this mistaken identity became evident shortly after its initial spread.
Fans quickly intervened to state clearly that Sam Smith had appeared in no presence whatsoever in the video.
“That’s not Sam Smith,” one user firmly stated, while another added, “Despite various accounts spreading false information, Sam Smith did not stage dive at any concert.”
They challenged attitudes toward those individuals who posted the video prior to conducting authenticity tests.
“The obsession right-wingers have with Sam Smith has combined with their affinity for fake news and false information,” one fan posted.
“This is so clearly not Sam. According to these users their entire existence has been fact-free since day one.
The situation escalated further when journalists from AP News proved that the clip did not show any moment from Smith’s performances.
The Ninja Rap music video owned by Vanilla Ice played at his concert provided the video footage used in the performance. The spokesperson for Sam Smith who goes by Lisa DiAngelo officially stated that the person in the video does not depict the artist.
Public authorities have yet to identify the person behind the costume while they have not established if he received any medical treatment post-fall. Multiple online users expressed their worries about the test subject saying,
“I really hope he’s okay.”
False information spreads rapidly online particularly when aimed at well-known figures such as Sam Smith who have experienced long-standing online harassment about their clothing choices and identity matters.
Fans of Sam Smith immediately dismissed baseless misinformation about him and used factual evidence to support their defence of the singer.
Online trends can easily mislead people but these followers demonstrated their ability to spot falsehood through their fast response to debunk that false Sam Smith death rumour.
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