A fake report spread that she had been arrested at her home in Boca Raton, Florida, pushing her name to the top of trending topics on Twitter.
After the 70-year-old was informed that she was the subject of false reports, she used her verified Twitter account to refute the bogus claims.
“Just got a phone call saying my name is trending. And being trolled for something horribly FAKE. That’s NOT TRUE. Haven’t been raided or arrested yet. Just sanitized and self-isolating ly to the rest of the world. Stay safe everyone,” she tweeted.
The false report was also accompanied by a video in which a purported news reporter said that her house had been cordoned off by authorities and was being excavated for underground tunnels. The fabricated report also implicated other celebrities such as Celine Dion, Madonna, Charles Barkley and Kevin Spacey.
The Daily Mail and CNN reported that the bogus story had been started by the far-right group QAnon, which is known for spreading wild conspiracy theories.
Respectable Lawyer tweeted that the body cam footage of the supposed raid on the multi-millionaire Oprah’s house showed that she “apparently lives in a $30k bungalow in west Detroit.”
Executive producer of The Ellen Show, Andy Lassner, tweeted to his 483,000 followers: “The staggering amount of people believing a 100% fake story about Oprah doesn’t make me feel good about the chances of society continuing.”
CNN reporter Ben Jones tweeted: “Welp, Oprah is the top trend in the United States because QAnon people completely made up that she was arrested as part of their fictitious 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 eating ring. These people’s delusions are extremely unwelcome at this moment.”
Mother Jones journalist Ali Breland, tweeted: “The maniacs still awake on this website made a hoax about Oprah being arrested for 𝓈ℯ𝓍 trafficking go viral, then the benevolent maniacs debunked it, and then Oprah herself responded, all in the 8ish hour window that reasonable people are asleep.”
New York Times reporter Astead Herndon tweeted: “Yall made Oprah tweet after midnight. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
