When you’re a famous person it must be disconcerting to reach that age when media outlets have your obituary on standby, in order for them to break the story of your demise before any other outlets get the chance to do so. Today, BBC journalist Ahmen Khawaja accidentally posted a “breaking news” tweet about Britain’s Queen Elizabeth being rushed to hospital, before the broadcaster stated that the tweet was a result of a technical mistake as a result of them rehearsing an obituary for the monarch.
Weirdly, the BBC’s statement makes the whole situation a lot more morbid than it ever needed to be, as Ahmen had covered up the unfortunate incident rather adeptly herself by claiming that her phone had been hijacked by some pranksters after leaving it unattended. “Phone left unattended at home,” Ahmen tweeted. “Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!”
However, the BBC followed up her tweets with an official statement, reading: “During a technical rehearsal for an obituary, tweets were mistakenly sent from the account of a BBC journalist saying that a member of the royal family had been taken ill.
“The tweets were swiftly deleted and we apologise for any offence.”
Needless to say many were confused by Ahmen’s tweets, and news that the Queen had been taken to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London after the false story quickly gained traction. Clarifying that the Queen was still in good health, a Buckingham Palace spokesman released a statement saying: “I can confirm that the Queen this morning attended her annual medical check-up at the King Edward VII’s Hospital in London.
“This was a routine, pre-scheduled appointment, the Queen has now left hospital.”
Photo: Getty Images
