A story, which has now proven to be false, has been circulating on the internet about the death of comedian and TV personality Steve Harvey. There is considerable possibility that the original report, which was initially published by a website and later taken up by a well-known media round-up platform, was generated by artificial intelligence or AI.
False report of Steve Harvey’s death confuses fans
The report about Steve Harvey’s death purportedly first went online on Tuesday, December 17, and had a future publishing date of December 19, 2024. Published under the title Steve Harvey Passed Away Today: Remembering The Legacy Of A Comedy Legend, the fake article presumably reached a bigger readership after it became available on a round-up site. The article contains false claims that Harvey passed away on Tuesday and a tribute to the iconic entertainer’s life and career. Per TheWrap, this article was generated using AI.
Since reports about the hoax have begun circulating, several websites have reached out to Harvey and his representatives. Although they reportedly didn’t receive any response, Harvey was active on social media as recently as Thursday, November 19, effectively proving the report to be a lie.
“My father was my biggest supporter,” Harvey wrote in the caption of a Facebook post featuring a clip from one of his stand-up routines. “Fathers, sometimes our children just need that one moment of our support to guide them in the right direction or launch their dreams.”
Understandably, the false reports caused outrage on social media. “The internet really need to stop playing with people’s lives. That false a– news about Steve Harvey being dead wrong asf. Smh,” shared user @toria_shay86 on X (formerly Twitter).
Another X user, @Dahvee32, posted, “Gmorn’n did anyone else wake up to Steve Harvey passed away news and it was a Spam or virus link.”
Notably, this isn’t the first time a fake death story about 67-year-old Harvey has circulated online. In one of those instances, Harvey himself hilariously responded to the hoax. He took to X and shared a meme of himself, writing in the caption, “Me seeing that Rip Harvey is trending.”