Award-winning author Cormac McCarthy is not dead. He is alive and well, contrary to what USA Today’s social media feed reported Tuesday morning.
“#BREAKING Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy dies of a stroke at 82,” the paper said in the first in a series of regrettable tweets.
The “breaking” news scoop posted on USA Today’s Twitter feed was followed quickly by a note suggesting that no one at the newspaper had verified whether the author was actually dead.
“UPDATE: We are looking into this report to verify its authenticity,” read the next tweet.
After some basic digging, which included calling McCarthy’s publicist, which should have been the first move, the story turned out to be a hoax, leaving the newspaper to backtrack and correct its initial claim.
“UPDATE: Author Cormac McCarthy is not dead, his publicist says. A ‘rogue’ Twitter account posted that information,” read the paper’s social media feed. “Cormac McCarthy is alive and well. We have notified Twitter and we have notified our attorneys, publicist tells @usatodaylife.”
“#BREAKING Earlier report of death of author Cormac McCarthy is not true; publicist confirms he’s alive,” USA Today said in the fifth and last note in the series of tweets.
