BBC mistakenly announces Mark E. Smith’s death instead of birthday

“A genuine human error.”

The BBC mistakenly announced the death of The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith in tweet at the weekend.

The national treasure was celebrating his 60th on Sunday, March 5, but instead of sending a happy birthday message, BBC Music tweeted “RIP Mark E Smith” with a sad face emoji.

BBC tweeted 'RIP Mark E Smith' on his birthday when he's not actually dead. Poor Mark E Smith pic.twitter.com/9dlUX74wjp

— Karl Fletcher (@karlfletcher69) March 6, 2017

The account later corrected its mistake, wishing Smith a happy 60th birthday instead. A BBC spokesperson said that the tweet had been a “genuine human error and the message was posted by mistake and swiftly deleted.” [via NME]

https://twitter.com/bbcmusic/status/838380795190460416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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