Fans initially had the shock of their lives when they heard the news of Mark McGrath being killed onset of his show. But after hearing that the news was fake after all, their reactions grew from relief to outrage on whoever made the claim. And no doubt, McGrath was angry too!
On Thursday, Feb. 26, an unnamed LA-based marketing agency reported of the news of Mark McGrath being shot to death while on the set of his show ‘Hot Package’. According to the fake news, McGrath was shooting for the second season of ‘Hot Package’ when he was shot by a masked gunman and later died in the arms of his co-host Derrick Beckles. But what made the news suspicious was that it ended with, “In honor of Mr. McGrath’s legacy, his team is asking in [lieu] of flowers, fans post a Sugar Ray selfie, holding a packet of sugar over their heart.”
Though some quickly saw this as a fake, others apparently bought the idea and posted it all over the social media. Shortly, nearly everyone in the world thought McGrath was dead. That is, until McGrath himself tweeted, “Final word on the death hoax thing, I knew nothing about it and found out the same time you did…sorry about any confusion,” to the relief of his fans and friends.
Later on, the marketing agency that sent the news, revealed to be called Prismatics, took back its ‘news’ and revealed that the ‘shooting’ part was actually a plot line for the premiere episode of ‘Hot Package’ on Friday, Feb. 27. It also cleared up claims of the death hoax to be a planned publicity stunt to promote McGrath’s show and announced that McGrath and his network Adult Swim didn’t have anything to do with the hoax.
A representative for Adult Swim also released a statement on the news, saying, “This press release did not come from Adult Swim and is not part of any network PR or marketing campaign for the show ‘Hot Package’.”
For more updates on your favorite celebrities, keep tab on Movie News Guide (MNG).
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons/Justin Higuchi
The post Mark McGrath and ‘Adult Swim’ Reacts over Hoax News of his Death appeared first on Movie News Guide.