According to a report that it is currently making its way around the interwebs, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have announced that they are moving to the seaside city of Newport, Rhode Island. My initial reaction to this ‘news’ was ‘would anybody really care’? But, given that I have already received a number of questions and comments about the supposed move and the report apparently has brangelina fans all agog, quite a number of people apparently not only care but are taking the report seriously.
But, in fact, the story is a work of fiction that originates from a ‘satirical’ fake-news website called ‘The Mckenzie Post’. Brad and Angelina have made no such announcement. The site includes the following disclaimer on its contact page:
About mckenziepost.com:
The McKenzie Post is the premiere fantasy news site in the world! All news articles on mckenziepost.com are satire or pure fantasy.
And, for the record, there are no credible news or entertainment reports that support the claim that Brad and Angelina are moving to Newport.
The same fake-news site has recently published a series of similar – and equally false – reports claiming that other stars, including Justin Bieber, Clint Eastwood, and Taylor Swift have announced sudden and unexpected moves to various locations. The style and presentation of the articles on the site indicate that it tends to use a series of generic story templates and fluff them out by adding in details about various celebrities.
The site presents its content in news format and hides its disclaimer under the ‘Contact Us’ page where many visitors will never see it. Thus, a lot of the site’s readers are apt to share the fake reports in good faith.
More and more of these clickbait fake-news sites are appearing online. It always pays to verify any strange or unusual ‘news’ reports that cross your social media feeds or inboxes before you share them.