Did guitarist K. K. Downing rejoin Judas Priest? No, that's not true: the news about Downing reuniting with his former band was uploaded by some prankster to a website were anyone can post realistic-looking news articles to fool friends and family, it is not real.
The story originated from an article published on January 8, 2019 titled "K. K. Downing back in Judas Priest" (archived here) which opened:
We did not see this coming... After all the recent interviews following the publishing of former Priest guitarist biography, where he have been slamming his old colleagues, most people thought all doors was closed for a happy reunion.
But, earlier today the band's manager, Jayne Andrews announced that the original guitarist will join Judas Priest on stage February 11, next year when their tour will come to the O2 Arena, London UK.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
K. K. Downing back in Judas Priest
We did not see this coming... After all the recent interviews following the publishing of former Priest guitarist biography, where he have been slamming his old colleagues, most people thought all doors was closed for a happy reunion. But, earlier today the band's manager, Jayne Andrews announced that the original guitarist will join Judas Priest on stage February 11, next year when their tour will come to the O2 Arena, London UK. The band give no more info at the moment, other than saying the axe is buried, and life is to short to grudge over mediacreated misunderstandings. Hopefully this will end all disputes, and K. K. Downing will join the band on a permanent basis. Long live The Metal Gods!!!
The joke was made extra believable to many because Downing indictated in a recent interview he would be willing to return if he was asked:
Would K.K. DOWNING Rejoin JUDAS PRIEST? 'It's All A Question Of How You're Being Asked,' He Says
Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing says that he would be open to rejoining the band if he was approached about it the right way. Last summer, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates eight years ago when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST.
But as far as we (or anybody) knows that hasn't happened yet.
The site that published the story is a prank website where users can submit their own headline, description and photo to create realistic looking prank news articles.
Users don't even need to upload their own image, there is a built-in search function that will pull an appropriate image from Google image search.
The site is part of a larger network of prank sites all using the same basic layout but sometimes in different languages. It appears to be run by a Belgian company named Mediavibes or Media Vibes which is managed by a man named Nicolas Gouriou according to registration records.
Each site in the network comes with a disclaimer (sometimes translated into a different language) that reads:
This website is an entertainment website, jokes are created by users. These are humourous jokes, fantasy, fictional, that should not be seriously taken or as a source of information.
So don't fall for this prank now that we've warned you about it!
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