Fact Check

Oprah Posts Bail for 'Sexy Felon' Jeremy Meeks

Did Oprah Winfrey post bail for 'sexy felon' Jeremy Meeks?

Published June 26, 2014

Claim:

Claim:   Oprah Winfrey has posted bail for 'sexy felon' Jeremy Meeks.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via Facebook, June 2014]


Did Oprah really bail the "sexy convict" out of jail?

 

Origins:   On 24 June 2014, Empire News published an article positing that talk show host Oprah Winfrey had posted $900,000 bail for so-called "sexy felon" Jeremy Meeks, whose "handsome mug shot" had gone viral on the Internet, with an eye towards hiring him as a host for a talk show on her OWN network:



The internet was abuzz this past week when a mug shot of accused arms dealer Jeremy Meeks hit the web, making women swoon and men jealous over his movie-star good looks.

Apparently all the attention Meeks has gotten since being arrested has only helped him, as billionaire actress and media mogul Oprah Winfrey has reportedly agreed to pay Meeks' $900,000 bail, with the intent of giving him a job as a talk show host on her OWN Network.


Soon afterwards links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered the item mistaking it for a genuine news article. However, the article was just a bit of satire from Empire News, a web site that publishes fictional stories such as "Cure for Cancer Discovered; 'Amazingly Simple' Says Researcher," and "College Student Excused from Classes After Dog Eats Grandmother," and "Woman Gives Birth, Confuses Doctors by Asking for Maternity Test."

Empire News's disclaimer page notes that it "is a satirical and entertainment website."

Last updated:   26 June 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.