TYSON KO’S HOAX REPORT OF HIS DEATH
A hoax report that Mike Tyson was killed in a car accident on Muhammad Ali’s 70th was quickly knocked down late Tuesday when the former heavyweight champion tweeted he was okay.
According to several websites, the rumor went viral when sports radio host Dino Costa of Mad Dog radio on Sirius/XM sent out a tweet after his show ended.
Costa tweeted: “FLASH ALERT: Just received word that Mike Tyson was killed in a car crash in upstate NY. NO CONFIRMATION AS YET… Will keep you posted.”
An hour later, after posting several tweets that the news was unconfirmed, he recanted. “I just arrived home & was on the phone with various people entire time-thankfully it appears that the news on TYSON is not as was reported.”
Then Costa directed a lecturing tweet “To the person who phoned into ourstudio with report, how you could play games with news concerning someones life in that manner is sickening.”
A short time later Vegas Confidential reported in a tweet that a family member was unaware of Tyson’s “accident.” Tyson was returning from a trip to Spain, the source said.
Within minutes, the following message was posted on Tyson’s Twitter feed: “My friend called to see if I’m ok. There is a rumor I was in an accident. Thankfully I am doing well.”
A followup tweet on Tyson’s Twitter feed said: “I just had a great trip in Barcelona with my family.”
Tyson, who lives in Las Vegas, has admitted he doesn’t post all the tweets that appear on his Twitter feed.
---NORM CLARKE, Vegas Confidential
