{"id":571,"date":"2020-02-19T13:08:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T13:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=571"},"modified":"2022-02-21T10:07:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T10:07:32","slug":"fact-check-vanessa-bryant-did-not-commit-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/fact-check-vanessa-bryant-did-not-commit-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumors of Vanessa Bryant committing suicide out of depression go viral on social media."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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American basketball legend Kobe Bryant along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others lost their lives in a tragic helicopter crash on 26th<\/sup> of January, this year, when their helicopter crashed into a fog-covered hillside near Calabasas, California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many news items published images of Kobe\u2019s devastated wife, Vanessa Bryant, after the shocking loss of her beloved ones. In this backdrop, few websites published a news article claiming Vanessa Bryant had committed suicide due to depression. Kobe Bryant\u2019s untimely demise had already left fans and haters across the globe stunned. Couple with news of his wife committing suicide, being unable to cope up with depression would just be unbearable for the people associated with the Bryant family. However, when we checked out the news, we found that the news of Kobe\u2019s wife Vanessa committing suicide was a distasteful hoax. Let\u2019s find out how this hoax was created and spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook Link<\/a> | Archived Link<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook user Sadursan Krish<\/a> along with number of others had shared this news link from their Facebook profiles and number of users had reported this as false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We checked the Facebook posts and all of them were linked to a news article posted by a website called w0rldnews.g0ldenbuzzers.com<\/a> , with the caption \u201cBREAKING NEWS: VANESSA BRYANT Recorded her SUICIDE After Depression Attack this Morning. | BBC-News\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First we clicked the video on that website and it was redirected to another site t0pstories.caldomns.com<\/a> and a video started playing with the news anchor revealing \u201cWe have very sad news to share with you today…\u201d We noticed that while the title of the video indicated \u201cBBC News\u201d the logo in the video frame was \u201cFox News\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a few seconds a popup message appeared with a warning stating that \u201cThis video may show graphic content (18+)\u2026 Share to continue watching\u201d and displayed an \u201cUncover now\u201d button below the video frame as below. We noticed number of advertisements and sponsored content on these web pages as well. The time of publishing of article was also changing thus concealing the actual time when the video was posted.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We caution users, not to click on such links without verification. We checked the page source information and confirmed that the link had a redirect into a Youtube video. When we clicked on the \u201cUncover Now\u201d button before playing the video there was a popup message as below requesting the used to share the link on their Facebook timeline in order to continue to the video, a clear indication that link was created to increase number of shares on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When we shared the link on Facebook profile, the link was redirected to \u201cSky News Live<\/a>\u201d Youtube feed. When we inspected the shared link on Facebook profile it indicated a reference to \u201cTV News<\/a>\u201d which was again a bogus website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To verify these claims we inspected Vanessa Bryant\u2019s Instagram account. On 30th<\/sup> of January, few days after the tragic incident, we noticed a post on how devastated she was along with Kobey\u2019s other daughters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram Post<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Valentine\u2019s Day, three weeks after the death of her husband, Vanessa Bryant posted another touching message on her Instagram account which read \u201cTo my forever Valentine, I love you so much. Missing you so much on your favorite holiday. Te amo per sempre. Kisses to you and Gigi in heaven. Happy Valentine\u2019s Day, my babies. With all my love, your boo-boo\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram Post<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We noticed number of similar touching posts during last week on her Instagram account, which had been shared on many news sites as well. We checked for any news about her death being reported on mainstream and on BBC news as per the claim and could not find any related news. In fact, we found a number of other fact checks on this false claim which had started circulating initially during early parts of February<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, from our investigation it is clear that the claims about the death of Kobe Bryant\u2019s wife Vanessa Bryant are false and she has been active on social media after the initial emergence of these bogus website claims, which had started in early February.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t