Hollywood Unlocked founder, Jason Lee, tripled down on the Queen’s death before being ousted for reporting hearsay.
Jason Lee, founder of Hollywood Unlocked, has continued to back up claims that the Queen of England has passed away. Buckingham Palace announced on Sunday, February 20th, that the Queen had tested positive for COVID-19 and was, “experiencing mild cold-like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.”
Coming days after this report from the palace, Hollywood Unlocked published a story with this title on their site, “HU Exclusive: Queen Elizabeth Dead.”
At the time of writing this, the article is still up and the beginning reads as such:
“Socialites, it is with our deepest regret to inform you that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has died.
Sources close to the Royal Kingdom notified us exclusively that Queen Elizabeth has passed away. She was scheduled to attend the wedding of British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, but was found dead.”
The article ends on this note:
“However, this Tuesday, she also canceled her planned virtual engagements as she continued to suffer from the “mild Covid-19 symptoms.” No further details surrounding her death have been shared. She was 95 years old.
We will continue to keep you updated as this story develops…”
Jason Lee has since doubled down on his statements, with a Tweet saying his site doesn’t lie.
We don’t post lies and I always stand by my sources. Waiting for an official statement from the palace.
— Jason Lee (@theonlyjasonlee) February 22, 2022
A fake account came into play, posing as an official Hollywood Unlocked authority, and Tweeted a retraction statement that has since been deleted.
Jason Lee responded to the fake account quickly, making sure to triple down on his site’s report of the Queen’s death.
Woke up to some fake account posting a retraction. We do not know that account and we have not retracted our story. There has yet to be an official statement from the Palace. Staying tuned.
— Jason Lee (@theonlyjasonlee) February 23, 2022
This post from @pinatafarms has since come to light, which offers damning evidence against Lee’s story if true. Jason Lee has been active on Twitter and has even posted another article about why they thought they were right about the Queen’s death with a direct apology at the end.
turns out that dude at hollywood unlocked who said he heard from a source that the queen died, had actually heard that the main singer of QUEENS of the stone age died 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/pQ7QKsbycz
— Piñata Farms: The Meme App (@pinatafarms) February 23, 2022
Lee’s source is now known to be a conversation that was overheard and misinterpreted by a third party.
— MeghansMole©️ (@MeghansMole) February 25, 2022
There has been no official statement from the palace or any significant remarks on the matter backing up Hollywood Unlocked one way or the other.
