Celebrity blogger Jason Lee has retracted his report this past Tuesday stating that Queen Elizabeth had died.
The blogger said everyone one at the publication took out time to lay out exactly why they believed the Queen had passed and why they felt empowered to report it.
Although I’ve never been wrong when breaking a story because this involves the queen, this is one time I would want to be,” said Jason Lee in a statement on Hollywood Unlocked’s Instagram page.
“Based on Wednesday’s report from the palace I can say my sources got this all wrong and I sincerely apologize to the queen and the royal family.”
It was quite inevitable that after the palace announced on Sunday that Queen Elizabeth II had tested positive for COVID-19, people would speculate about what would happen if the 95-year-old monarch died.
But no one could have predicted the odd tale that followed, which involved a death hoax published by the pop culture tabloid Hollywood Unlocked.
On Tuesday, Hollywood Unlocked announced on Instagram that they could “exclusively” reveal the queen had died, citing “sources close to the palace”.
The queen had been feeling mild cold-like symptoms following her COVID-19 diagnosis, but was well enough to continue with “light tasks” despite pulling out of her virtual engagements, according to a statement made by the palace earlier in the day.
Buckingham Palace confirmed that she attended her weekly meeting with Boris Johnson via video on Wednesday, though her two virtual meetings scheduled for Thursday were postponed.
