Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Another assholery fact-check from the Associated Press:
CLAIM: Betty White told a news outlet she received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, three days before her death, saying: “Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The quote is fabricated. White did not receive a booster that day, her agent confirmed to The Associated Press. The news article cited by social media users does not contain the bogus quote or anything about vaccines.
THE FACTS: Days after Betty White’s death at the age of 99 was confirmed on Friday, social media users are falsely claiming “The Golden Girls” star had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, using a bogus quote to suggest her death may have been related.
Snopes reports:
Nearly all of the posts included the web address of an article on the website crowrivermedia.com titled “Betty White: I’m lucky to still be in good health.” The alleged statement about vaccines and “getting boosted” are nowhere to be found in that article, or in the original People magazine interview on which it was based.
In point of fact, the statements about vaccines and booster shots attributed to her have never appeared in any legitimate news media, nor did White make or repeat them on Twitter, or anywhere else. Such evidence as we’ve been able to find indicates that White rarely, if ever, spoke publicly about COVID-19 or vaccines related to the disease.
The New York Daily News reports:
Betty White died of natural causes and did not receive a COVID booster shot a few days before her death, contrary to online rumors, her friend and agent Jeff Witjas said Monday.
“That’s just not true – 100% not true,” Witjas told the Daily News in a phone call. The memes about White being affected by the COVID-19 booster shot have proliferated online, with posts such as a tweet sharing the fabricated quote and captioned, “Died 3 days later! Coincidence.”
He said she had been “well taken care of” by people who were supremely careful about their shots. “She was never a political person when she lived. I would certainly hate to see her become politicized in passing.”
I’ll spare you from them here, but there are thousands of such claims flooding Twitter this morning.
Betty White ‘Died of Natural Causes’ at Age 99, Her Agent Denies False COVID Booster-Related Rumors https://t.co/du8SQw49a2
— People (@people) January 3, 2022
Twitter should do a clean sweep and delete all of the accounts that said Betty White died because she got the booster shot 3 days earlier. Her agent just debunked this. This information is dangerous, hurtful, and shouldn’t be tolerated.
Who agrees?
— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) January 4, 2022
“Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home. People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true. She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicized that is not the life she lived.”https://t.co/hTp8avMP9b
— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) January 4, 2022