Was the unfortunate rapper Post Malone shot outside a music venue in California and did he die from several gunshot wounds? No, that's not true: some sick joker uploaded the death hoax to a prank website where anyone can make up a story and publish it on a site with a domain name that pretends to be CBS News. It is not real.
The story originated from an article published on cbsnews.us (not the real CBS News) on September 11, 2018 titled "Rapper "Post Malone" Shot Outside of Califonian Music Venue" (archived here) which opened:
Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone, has been pronounced dead after suffering several gunshot wounds. At approximately 12:18AM a black Camry with dealer license plates arrived to
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail so they may have thought it was actual news:
Rapper "Post Malone" Shot Outside of Califonian Music Venue
Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone, has been pronounced dead after suffering several gunshot wounds. At approximately 12:18AM a black Camry with dealer license plates arrived to
The site is part of a network of prank websites centered around thefakenewsgenerator.com that allow anyone to create a realistic looking fake news article. The network offers a selection of misleading domain names that can be used to make it look like an article came from real news websites such as CBS News, Associated Press or The New York Times. Each hoax article comes with following disclaimer at the top of the page:
You clicked this fake news story. Now make your own!
We wrote about cbsnews.us before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Rapper Kendrick Lamar NOT Shot Outside Los Angeles Studio & Is NOT In Critical Condition
- Fake News: Cardi B NOT Dead, Nicki Minaj Did NOT Shoot Her Outside LA Cafe
- Fake News: Rapper 'Lil Bibby' NOT In Hospital Following Shootout
- Fake News: 'Ed, Edd n Eddy' Creator Danny Antonucci NOT Found Dead in Apartment Aged 61
