Did football legend Lionel Messi just die suddenly in a tragic car crash?! Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!
Updated @ 2024-08-17 : Updated with new information
Updated @ 2023-09-24 : Added video fact check and comparison!
Originally posted @ 2023-04-20
Claim : Lionel Messi died suddenly in a tragic car crash!
People are sharing TikTok and YouTube videos which claim that football legend Lionel Messi just died suddenly in a high-speed car accident, with photos of the tragic car crash!
detlokalehotel : Messi died in a car crash #messi #died #in #a #car #crash #rip #rip #ripmessi
#fyp #soccer #messi #dead rest in peace legend👑⚽️🕊️
LIONEL MESSI DIES IN UNBELIEVABLE CAR CRASH
Messi, Xavi and Christiano dead after car accident
#Rip Messie Messie❤️ respect for Messie ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️⚽️🥅
Messie the best of the world ❤️🇦🇷❤️❤️#Messie
INFO CHOC: Lionel Messi est décédé
SHOCK INFO: Lionel Messi has died
There is even an example in which people claim that Lionel Messi died after Ronaldo fans killed him outside his home:
gavixamp : #messi #death Today marks the 2 year death of footballer Lionel Messi after Ronaldo fans killed him outside his home
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Truth : Lionel Messi did not die suddenly in a tragic car crash!
This is yet another example of fake news created and propagated by people to generate income from page / video views and advertising, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : No legitimate media reported Lionel Messi died
These social media posts, as well as YouTube and TikTok videos have been circulating for months now, but people don’t seem to notice that no legitimate media outlet has reported on Lionel Messi’s death!
Lionel Messi is one of the world’s best footballer and a mega celebrity. His death would have been covered extensively by the media across the globe! And his fans would have mourned his death on social media.
Yet, no legitimate media outlet has reported that Lionel Messi died recently from any cause, never mind a tragic car accident. Neither has there been any outpouring of grief from his millions of fans.
So why should you believe no-name websites, or random YouTube / TikTok videos???
Fact #2 : Lionel Messi is still alive and well!
Lionel Messi (born Lionel Andrés Messi on 24 June 1987) is still very much alive and well, as of Saturday, 17 August 2024. He did not die in a tragic car accident. Neither was he killed by Ronaldo fans outside his home.
Of course, you want proof of life, right? What you should be asking is the proof of death when you see social media claims that some celebrity or athlete has died. But I digress…
Well, Lionel Messi himself posted a photo with his family on 12 August 2024. As you can see, not only is he very much still alive, his family looks great!
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Fact #3 : This car crash photo was from 2009
To convince you that Lionel Messi died (even though he’s still alive), fake news creators had to make use of unrelated car crashes.
In this example, the video claimed that Lionel Messi, Xavi, and Cristiano Ronaldo, died in this car accident.
The truth is – that is a photo of a Ferrari 599 that crashed in October 2009, on the Great Ocean Road in southern Victoria, Australia. The driver was a 64 year-old man called Carlo Vaccari.
Mr. Vaccari lost control while driving his Ferrari 599 at 80 km/h and ploughed into two motorcyclists travelling in the opposite direction. He was convicted of careless driving, but only fined $3000.
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Fact #4 : This car accident photo was posted in 2014
It is unknown when this car accident happened, but this photo was posted by WreckedExotics.com on August 13, 2014.
Apparently, the driver lost control of his Ferrari 458 Italia while trying to overtake another car, and crashed into a trash bin. The driver left the scene of the accident, possibly under the influence of drugs / alcohol.
Even though this incident happened in Madrid, Spain, this photo is old and has nothing to do with Lionel Messi.
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Fact #5 : This tragic car crash occurred In 2012
This photo does not show Lionel Messi’s fatal car crash. This accident actually occurred at around 9 PM on 1 September 2012, at the E42 highway near Francorchamps in Belgium.
The driver was a 63 year-old man from Saint-Ghislain, and was obviously not Lionel Messi.
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Fact #6 : Lionel Messi death hoax is driven by fake fact check too
This Lionel Messi death hoax is, ironically, also fuelled by MediaMass Project, which keeps “updating” the dates in its fake fact check article:
News of footballer Lionel Messi’s death spread quickly earlier this week causing concern among fans across the world. However the January 2024 report has now been confirmed as a complete hoax and just the latest in a string of fake celebrity death reports. Thankfully, the 37-year-old footballer is alive and well.
Their claim of a viral R.I.P. Lionel Messi Facebook page is false. There is no such Facebook page. It is their standard fake fact check spiel for fake celebrity deaths.
The statement from Lionel Messi’s unnamed rep confirming that he is not dead is exactly the same as statements from other celebrities whose reps MediaMass claimed were victims of death hoaxes, like Angelina Jolie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barry Gibb, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Celine Dion, Clint Eastwood, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dolly Parton, Harrison Ford, Justine Bieber, Lucy Liu, Madonna, Melanie Laurent, Mike Tyson, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Pattinson, Simon Cowell, Slyvester Stallone, Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, and Tom Hanks.
He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. He’s still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet.
Hidden in the description page for the MediaMass Project is a disclaimer that they are a “satire” website. That’s the usual “cover” for websites peddling fake news.
Regardless of their reasons, anything posted by MediaMass.net must be considered as fake news, until proven otherwise.
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Fact #7 : This is just fake celebrity news!
This is yet another example of fake celebrity news created to generate page views and money through advertising, just like these examples:
- Is Stallone opening anti-woke coffee shops to counter Starbucks?!
- Did Mel Gibson criticise Olympics + Pope for mocking his faith?!
- Did Sylvester Stallone just die suddenly in hospital?!
- Elon Musk Bitcoin + Ethereum Giveaway Scam Alert!
- Did Jack Black say “Don’t miss Trump next time” at concert?!
- Did Céline Dion get Stiff Person Syndrome from vaccine?!
- Did LAPD Say Matthew Perry Was Murdered By Friends?!
- Celine Dion Just Died Suddenly In Hospital?!
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
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