Filipino comedian Michael V. quashes online rumours after COVID-19 death hoax

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 24, 2020 at 08:23
2 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video viewed tens of thousands of times on YouTube and shared on multiple websites on July 21, 2020 claims a Filipino comedian, Michael V., died of COVID-19 shortly after he announced he had contracted the disease. The claim is false; Michael V. debunked the hoax in a television interview on July 22; the video in the misleading posts in fact shows a portion of a news report about the death of a different Filipino celebrity from pneumonia.

The eight-second video was published here on YouTube on July 21, 2020.

It has been viewed more than 24,000 times.

In the opening three seconds of the clip, a photo of comedian Michael V. appears alongside text announcing his death, followed by a news clip that abruptly trails and states: “The veteran character actor has died…”

The video was embedded in this online post, captioned: "BREAKlNG NEWS: ACTOR 'Michael V.' or 'BlT0Y' has Died Just Earlier After Not Overcoming C0VlD19."

A screenshot of the misleading post taken on July 23, 2020

The video circulated online after the comedian, also known as “Bitoy,” announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. He documented his experience in this YouTube video published on June 19, 2020.

An identical claim that the comedian died of COVID-19 was also shared in web posts here, here and here.

The claim is false.

AFP contacted the comedian’s management team for comment on July 23. They referred us to this interview Michael V. gave to Filipino broadcaster GMA News on July 22, 2020, in which he debunked the death rumours.

Below is a translation of Michael V.’s comments in Tagalog-language, from the video’s two-minute nine-second mark:

“Reporter voiceover: Bitoy's funny side returned, upon discussion of the post that spread yesterday that he had died. He said this was a bad joke, and spreading fake news does not help at all.

“Michael V: Many thanks to this interview. At least everyone can confirm (the death rumours are not true). Actually, what's annoying is some have been directly messaging me, asking me. I don't know if I should respond with a ghost emoji or what."

The clip used in the hoax posts actually show an unrelated news report; it corresponds to the one-second to four-second mark of this GMA News report about the death from pneumonia of veteran actor Domingo "Menggie" Cobarrubias in late March.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and the GMA News report (R):

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