Fox News airs Stuart Scott R.I.P. tribute with picture of Stephen A. Smith.
Put this in the category of nipping a rumor in the bud. On Sunday, Jan. 4, ESPN announced that longtime host Stuart Scott died after a long fight with cancer. The website NaHaDaily responded by posting a story that claimed Fox News had botched the photo that accompanied its coverage of Scott’s death. "Stuart Scott succumbed to cancer at the age of 49 and Fox News television ran a tribute today in his memory, but instead released a picture of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith," NaHaDaily wrote. Both men are African-American. The item included what appears to be a Fox News Facebook page comment, "You know all famous black people look-a-like. No harm, no foul." This hoax image appears on the NaHaDaily Facebook page: There is no truth to the NaHaDaily article. Fox News discussed Scott’s passing on air, which included many videos of Scott (and none of Smith). The rumor debunking website Snopes reached the same conclusion previously. NaHaDaily includes a line at the bottom of its Web page, below the comments and copious ads, "NahaDaily is a daily satirical news source. Meaning complete fiction." The item clearly misled some readers. On Twitter, users reacted to the fake news. Here’s a sampling: "@FoxNews SO FOXNEWS IS REALLY SAD AND STUPID." "Fox News did Stuart Scott dirty. And Stephen Smith. How do you give a man a tribune... Via the face of another man, that's alive?" "They really put up a picture of Stephen A. Smith and said RIP Stuart Scott." "@FoxNews Know the difference between Stephen A. Smith ,..and Stuart Scott yet? You Idiots." One comment on the NaHaDaily page said there ought to be a law that requires a disclaimer at the very top of each Web page. Our ruling The website NaHaDaily said Fox News paid tribute to an African-American ESPN host and used the photo of an African-American ESPN commentator. This did not happen. If this claim crosses your radar screen, ignore it. We rate the claim Pants on Fire. Help fund PolitiFact's Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response.
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