False news of Petty’s death prompts outcry
Rock legend hospitalized for cardiac arrest, was then mistakenly reported dead
LOS ANGELES— Tom Petty was rushed to UCLA Medical Centre for a cardiac incident Sunday night, law enforcement has confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.
By late Monday afternoon, CBS was reporting that the 66-year-old rocker had died, prompting an outpouring of grief on social media.
The grief soon turned to confusion when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which had been cited in a report and by CBS News and subsequently by other outlets that picked up the CBS story, tweeted that “initial information was inadvertently provided to some media sources.”
Later, the LAPD said it had no information on the well-being of Tom Petty and its spokespeople did not provide information CBS News used to report the rocker had died.
Officer Tony Im said Monday that the LAPD did not respond to any incident involving the rocker. CBS has since amended its story and the trade Variety also retracted its obituary, which cited an unnamed source confirming Petty’s death.
“How dare you report that my father has died just to get press because your articles and photos are so dated.”
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT ATTRIBUTED TO PETTY’S DAUGHTER ANNAKIM VIOLETTE
CBS and Variety now cite TMZ reporting that says Petty is “clinging to life.”
“It was not our office, definitely not,” Im said Monday afternoon. “If it’s not a police matter, our public information office does not comment on stuff like that”
An Instagram account attributed to Petty’s daughter Annakim Violette slammed Rolling Stone for falsely reporting his death.
“How dare you report that my father has died just to get press because your articles and photos are so dated,” the post said. “This is my father not a celebrity. An artist and human being.”
CBS News issued a statement later Monday maintaining that it “reported information obtained officially from the LAPD about Tom Petty.”
“The LAPD later said it was not in a position to confirm information about the singer,” the statement said.
Coroner’s officials said Monday they have not received a report of Petty’s death.
Petty’s manager did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment Monday.
The reports led to the scheduling of a memorial at Petty’s star on the Hol- lywood Walk of Fame, but that was cancelled. Reports of Petty’s death also prompted an outpouring of grief on Twitter, where he was the top worldwide trending topic Monday afternoon.
Musicians such as Courtney Love, Talib Kweli, Kid Rock, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Stanley and Lin-Manuel Miranda were among those posting remembrances.
At 3 p.m. eastern time Monday, TMZ reported that Petty had been rushed to the hospital. It updated its story a half-hour later, saying a decision had been made to pull life support.
Later, it reported Petty was “still clinging to life,” though a chaplain had been called in. With files from the Los Angeles Times