Fact Check

Cormac McCarthy Death Hoax

A hoax Twitter account propagated a false rumor that acclaimed author Cormac McCarthy had died of a stroke.

Published June 28, 2016

Claim:
Author Cormac McCarthy passed away in June 2016.

On 28 June 2016, the official Twitter account for USA Today posted a tweet reporting that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy had passed away from a stroke:

cormac mccarthy usa today

Author Joyce Carol Oates also referenced McCarthy's death Twitter:

Screenshot 2016-06-28 at 10

However, Cormac McCarthy is alive and well. Rumors of his death were started by a hoax Twitter account that was created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti:

Screenshot 2016-06-28 at 10

While Debenedetti admitted that the acclauimed author had not passed away, writing "this account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti. McCarthy is alive and well," rumors of the author's death quickly circulated on social as "Cormac McCarthy" began trending:

trending

Shortly after propagating the rumor about McCarthy's death, USA Today reached out to the author's publicist and confirmed that the author was still among the living:

usa today tweet

Although Cormac McCarthy has not responded to his death hoax, several official entities related to the author have chimed in to confirm that the 82-year-old writer is indeed alive:

twitter penguin

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

Article Tags