Wilson! Viral article claiming Tom Hanks was given a volleyball for company in quarantine – like in the movie Castaway – is fake news
- A story by satirical news site The Betoota Advocate on Thursday has gone viral
- It claimed Tom Hanks had been given a ‘Wilson’ volley ball at Gold Coast Hospital
- The fake news was shared by reporters and media on Twitter as a real story
- The joke plays on his role in Castaway, where he is alone on an island with a ball
- It comes as Hanks announced he and wife Rita Wilson have the coronavirus
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Fake news about Tom Hanks being given a volleyball to keep him company while in quarantine has gone viral.
The Forrest Gump star and his wife Rita Wilson announced on social media on Thursday they had been diagnosed with coronavirus while on the Gold Coast.
Hours later, Australian satirical news site The Betoota Advocate shared a photoshopped image of Hanks holding his Castaway co-star, a volley ball with a bloody handprint, called Wilson.
In the 2000 film, Hanks’ character adopts Wilson as a companion while he is stranded on a remote island to preserve his sanity.
Playing on the plotline, The Betoota Advocate claimed that ‘the thoughtful and overworked staff at the Gold Coast hospital brought Hanks in a Wilson to keep him company for the duration of his stay’.
Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson announced that they have been diagnosed with the coronavirus on Thursday. They are pictured together at the Oscars last month
The Betoota Advocate’s story caused a stir with many fans stoked to hear that Hanks had been reunited with Wilson, the volleyball, in a Gold Coast Hospital
But several reporters and media figures shared the fabricated story on Twitter without acknowledging, or appearing to realise, the article was not real.
‘Tweet of the century from Australian media,’ American journalist Carl Quintanilla wrote on Twitter, posting the story.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman also retweeted the account, prompting another journalist to call her out.
‘Not to put too fine a point on it, but at the height of a global pandemic, the lead white house reporter for the most important newspaper in America has retweeted a fake news story about Tom hanks receiving Wilson the volleyball in quarantine,’ Jordan Sarge wrote.
Journalist Jordan Sarge slammed NY Times reporter Maggie Haberman for sharing the fake news
Facebook issues a false news notice to users before they share a Betoota Advocate article
‘Please send help.’
Haberman later took to Twitter to alert her 1.2million followers that the article is fake, and thank Variety Editor-In-Chief Kate Arthur for bringing it to her attention.
The Betoota advocate, a media outlet known for writing false stories based on real news events and injecting them with humour, is popular with millennials.
People who attempt to share their articles on Facebook are immediately issued a ‘false news warning’ before they proceed.
In a Facebook group dedicated to shaming incidents where the site’s parody stories are believed to be real, a woman posted an image of the notification sent by the social media giant on Friday as she shared Hanks’ hospital hoax.
Her post received a flurry of likes and comments from users who could not believe how anyone could believe the site’s information is factual.
Meanwhile the fictitious report, featuring a real image of Hanks with the ball at a 2015 hockey game, has racked up over 16,000 likes and more than 4000 shares on their Facebook.
The Hollywood star has been in the Gold Coast to film the upcoming Baz Lurhmann biopic about Elvis, with Hanks set to play the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Over the past few weeks, the couple have travelled to cities across Australia for Hank’s singer wife’s performances, with medical authorities scrambling to trace potential contacts.
Australia’s coronavirus count now currently sits at 194 infections, with three fatalities.
Worldwide, there have been more than 130,000 confirmed cases of the virus, including almost 5000 deaths.
The real image of Hanks, that was superimposed into a hospital, was taken from a 2015 NY Rangers game in Florida