Will Smith. Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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Claim: Facebook users claimed that popular American actor Will Smith has died.
Verdict: FALSE. No credible media organisation has published this claim, and the website linked to it is suspicious, with low trust scores.
Full Text
Will Smith, a renowned American veteran in the Hollywood entertainment industry, gained fame in the 1980s, first as a rapper before transitioning to acting. His career fetched many awards, including two Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards.
He has also faced personal and family-related controversies, including a widely publicised incident at the 2022 Oscars, where he slapped the comedian Chris Rock for joking about his wife’s alopecia condition.
However, Different Facebook users have claimed that the 56-year-old actor has passed. A user, Saljunysaljuny, posted pictures of Mr Smith and some accident scenes with the caption, “R.I.P Will Smith, Hollywood legend has passed away. Goodbye and rest.”
The post gained 182 reactions and 85 comments since Dec. 27, 2024.
We also found the claim on other accounts here, here, here, here, and here.
The implication of the claim on Mr Smith’s reputation prompted DUBAWA to verify the information.
Verification
We found a link from a website, Premium News, in the posts’ comment section. The link displayed the headline and Mr Smith’s image at a funeral, designed as if it were his burial.
Screenshot of the website
A few seconds later, it revealed that the device used to access the website needed an update, a common sign of malicious websites.
Screenshot of notification while visiting the website.
When we scanned the website on Scamadviser, an automated algorithm, to verify its authenticity, it gave the website a low trust score of 36%, indicating that it was suspicious and might be a scam.
Some of the highlights mentioned include an unidentified owner on WHOIS, the website’s server having affiliation with several websites with low reviews, and a shady service provider as the website’s host.
We went through Mr Smith’s verified Facebook and Instagram accounts. The actor’s last post on Dec. 25, 2024, was a video of the South African music group Ndlovu Youth Choir singing Feliz Navidad. Messages sent to his social media inbox were unanswered as of Dec. 30, 2024.
Despite using advanced keyword searches, DUBAWA found no credible media outlet that reported such an incident, which would have caused a wave in the entertainment industry. John Salley, a National Basketball Association (NBA) veteran who starred in Mr Smith’s “Bad Boys for Life” series, granted an interview on Dec. 29, 2024, two days after the claim went viral. In the interview, he discussed the actor’s intense commitment to mastering colleagues’ scripts while on set.
Conclusion
The website spreading the information is suspicious, and no credible media platform has reported the incident. Therefore, the claim that Will Smith died is false.
