The Queen Of Talk, Oprah, became a trending topic on Tuesday (March 17) night all the way to Wednesday (March 18) morning – because she was the subject of fake news that went viral.
According to Newsweek, “a fake report went viral saying that she had been arrested at her home in Boca Raton, Florida.”
The fake report in question had something to do about a conspiracy theory that she had been detained on sex trafficking charges, which is obviously some sort of hoax.
And Oprah is assuring fans that she’s very much at home “just sanitizing and self distancing,” just like the rest of us, thank you very much.
“Just got a phone call that my name is trending. And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing. It’s NOT TRUE. Haven’t been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody.🙏🏾,” she tweeted.
Several celebrities have taken to social media to express outrage at the false accusations about Oprah.
“Trolls + bots began this disgusting rumor. Mean-spirited minds kept it going. #Oprah has worked for decades on behalf of others. Given hundreds of millions to individuals + causes in need. Shared her own abuse as a child to help folks heal. Shame on all who participated in this,” Ava DuVernay wrote.
“The staggering amount of people believing a 100% fake story about Oprah doesn’t make me feel good about the chances of society continuing,” Andy Lassner, Ellen DeGeneres’ Executive Producer, tweeted.
Even Oprah’s BFF, Gayle King’s story on CBS This Morning was in support of her friend.
“My story is about Oprah, something I never thought I’d be talking about,” Gayle said. “She is debunking a strange conspiracy theory that was trending on social media overnight — this was actually the No. 1 trend — [a] fake report that claimed her home was raided by police and she was arrested on sex trafficking charges in Florida. Of course that is false.”
Apparently, Oprah called her at 3:30 a.m. to fill her in on the story.
“Of course I said do you wanna come on and talk about it and she said, ‘No. I am not gonna dignify it with a reply and you shouldn’t either,’” she reported. “She asked me not to say anything about it. But guys, it made me so mad because it is the antithesis of who she is, what she represents and how she lives in the world. But people see that stupid stuff online and it picks up a life of its own. So for anybody who believed it I don’t have a response for that but I think we need to shut that down.”
Seriously, wow. It’s surprising how people can believe such strange conspiracies!
In other news…
Reese Witherspoon wants everyone to know she’s BFFs with a queen – Queen Bey, that is.
Earlier this week, Reese went on Ellen and jokingly bragged about how she and Beyonce are so tight. Host Ellen DeGeneres had some anecdotes to share as well, and they went back and forth hilariously trying to determine who is better friends with Bey.
Reese shared how JAY-Z sent her a case of champagne after the 2020 Golden Globes (she didn’t shy from asking for some at the awards show).
“Well, I just noticed that they were having champagne and we had, um, run out of water at our table,” she recalled. “So I was thirsty and so was [Jennifer] Aniston, who was sitting next to me. And I was like, ‘Well, JAY-Z seems to have a giant bottle of champagne.'”
“He was like, ‘Yeah, do you want some champagne?’ I was like, ‘Yes, I do.’ Because clearly, he brings the good stuff,” she added. “And then afterwards, he sent me a whole case of it!”
She also recounted how Beyonce sent her the whole Adidas X Ivy Park collection.
“She sent me clothes,” Reese said. “And then I was like, ‘I think Ellen might like these,’ and then she sent them to you. Because Beyoncé and I are really good friends. I mean, really, really good friends.”
“In fact, you might say best friends,” she added. “Some might say that.”
Well, one things is for sure, being friends with Bey sure has a lot of perks!
