Has Oprah Winfrey died as of January 17, 2025? No, that's not true: An article attached to a post implying that Winfrey died did not provide evidence of her supposed death nor mention anywhere in the article text that she had died. Also, Winfrey was active on her verified social media accounts the same day the post implying she was dead was published.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on January 7, 2025. Above four images, one of which included a photo of Winfrey, the caption said:
10 minutes ago in California, Oprah Winfrey her has been confirmed as... 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 here https://24live.info/.../30-minutes-ago-family-announced.../
Here is how the post looked at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Jan 16 14:18:12 2025 UTC)
This post provided no evidence to support the assertion that Winfrey had died as of January 17, 2025.
The link in the Facebook post's caption leads to an article (archived here) with a date (in Russian) of January 9, 2025. The post includes a link to an article written two days before the post appeared, indicating the article was given an arbitrary date.
The article's title is "30 minutes ago / Family announced the sad news of Legend Oprah Winfrey / Farewell in tears." It was found on the website 24live.info, which was created as a WordPress blog.
A domain search for the 24live.info website using the ICANN Look Up Registration data lookup tool revealed that the registrant is not connected to any organizations and is based in "Kyev," presumably Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
(Source: ICANN Lookup screenshot taken on Fri Jan 17 16:01:12 2025 UTC)
The article's headline does not follow standard editorial style, and Winfrey's death is not mentioned anywhere in the article. The linked article is written in the present tense ("... is an American talk show host ...") instead of the past tense, which a legitimate article or obituary would have done.
The article is also not original; parts of it were copied from other websites and pieced together on a personal blog platform.
After several paragraphs about Winfrey's life, the page is nothing but celebrity-focused and gossip-related clickbait content. For example, clicking on an article mentioning Bill Clinton below the article purporting Winfrey's death leads to this unrelated article (archived here) titled, "From Mansions to Cottages: Peek Inside the 13 Diverse Dwellings of Politicians," which appears on a completely different website platform.
A Google search (archived here) using the exact text of the first paragraph of the article showed it came from this Wikipedia entry (archived here) titled "Oprah Winfrey."
Another Google search (archived here) using the exact text in the second paragraph of the article revealed it was taken from the same Wikipedia entry.
A Google News search (archived here) using a combination of keywords did not display any credible news reports confirming this post's implied claim.
In a January 7, 2025, video post (archived here) on Winfrey's verified Instagram account, Winfrey is seen greeting and hugging a friend who recently published a book. This Instagram post was uploaded the same day as the post on Facebook that implied Winfrey had died was made.
Lead Stories has previously uncovered a network of Cambodian-based websites that spread "death hoax" articles like this one on Facebook to spread malware.
Lead Stories reached out to Winfrey's representatives for a statement. If a response is received, this fact check will be updated.
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Lead Stories has previously uncovered a network of Cambodian-based websites that spread "death hoax" articles on Facebook to spread malware.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning Oprah Winfrey can be read here. Other Lead Stories fact checks about claims that celebrities have died suddenly can be found here.
