Indian model Poonam Pandey fakes cervical cancer death, triggering a row
Al Jazeera
Poonam Pandey announces death on Instagram, inviting flurry of reports and obituaries. Next day, she says it was fake.
An Indian model has sparked an online backlash after revealing she had faked her death in an Instagram post as part of a cervical cancer awareness campaign.
Poonam Pandey “bravely fought the disease” and died, according to a statement published on her social media on Friday, but the fake announcement was soon met with online criticism that included accusations it was a “deceptive stunt”.
A flurry of obituaries from media outlets followed the original announcement and her Wikipedia page was also updated to reflect her apparent death, while Bollywood stars posted mournful tributes.
But others had expressed scepticism after noticing that footage of Pandey on board a boat in Goa, apparently in good health, had been posted to her account four days before the announcement.
On Saturday, the 32-year-old conceded to her 1.3 million followers in another video posted on Instagram that her death had been a hoax.
