Yesterday, author Stephen King tweeted that there were “1200 dead of COVID yesterday in Florida.” The tweet got about 24,000 retweets and over 80,000 likes. In a now-deleted tweet, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding called it “the most terrifying thing Stephen King has ever written.” And like so much of King’s previous work, it was also fiction. King finally acknowledged the “error”:
I'm wrong about the number of deaths in Florida due to COVID. Not 1200 in one day but over the course of one week, possibly more. I regret the error, but regret the DeSantis crew's failure to come to grips with the COVID virus even more.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 11, 2021
There’s that word!
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) September 11, 2021
That’s the one.
Stick with fiction.#StayInYourLane https://t.co/SCLXzbAxMJ
— FEMA *STOLEN* Inmate (@ProjectAzorian7) September 11, 2021
He did, and that was the problem.
King also hasn’t yet regretted the error enough to delete the original tweet:
1200 dead of COVID yesterday in Florida.
Not the total for a week or a month, but ONE SINGLE DAY.— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 10, 2021
Still no “contains misinformation” flag from Twitter? How totally unsurprising…
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He admitted to spreading COVID misinformation, yet the original tweet is still up.
Why won’t @Twitter lock his account until he deletes it?
(Rhetorical question: we know why) https://t.co/RD2BvcgcIn
— Is This Heaven? (@no_its_iowa) September 11, 2021
But I will leave the original tweet up because it's got a heck of a lot of likes and retweets! https://t.co/gG1LXtV25U
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) September 11, 2021