Daniel Radcliffe on being the target of a coronavirus hoax

Everyone wants to know the truth about the COVID-19, the virus currently sweeping the world and forcing millions of people to stay in their homes and forego work. With the information on the pandemic changing by what seems like the hour, it’s only natural that a lot of rumors would be flying, and many of them completely false. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe was on the receiving end of one of them.

The hoax started in mid-March, when a Twitter account called @BBCNewsTonight — an account that had no actual relation to the BCC — tweeted that Radcliffe had contracted the coronavirus. Since the tweet, the troll account has been suspended, but not before some big names retweeted the news, and word started to spread as quickly as the virus itself!

In truth, Daniel Radcliffe has not come down with the virus. He and his girlfriend Eric Darke talked to Vulture about the hoax that got out of hand.

Radcliffe first heard about the rumor when he was doing a play in London, a play that obviously had to end a little early on account of all the theaters being closed. “But at the time we were still doing it,” he said. “The London theaters carried a week or so longer than most other plays.

"We’d done the matinee and I went into hair and makeup for the evening show, and the hair and makeup artist, a lovely guy called Rob, turned around with a sort of knowing smile, and he was like, “You’ve got coronavirus.” I was like, “What?! I’m sure I don’t. I just did a play.” And he said, “Yeah, my niece just texted me. She said, ‘Oh, yeah, that dude’s got coronavirus.’” It was very much like, “Watch yourself. I don’t know if you should work with this guy. He’s got coronavirus.”"

At least Radcliffe can see a funny side of the whole thing. “So I was immediately like, quite amused by it. It’s not the first time I’ve had something crazy written about me. I don’t ever think there’s been a rumor about me that was so topical, that was pivoting off the news.”

"The original tweet was something like, ‘Daniel Radcliffe becomes the first famous person to get coronavirus.’ And I was like, That’s such a weird distinction. Surely the first person to get coronavirus is the first famous person to get coronavirus."

At the moment, the couple are doing their part to prevent spread of COVID-19 by self-isolating. “We’re in New York, at Daniel’s apartment,” Erin Darke said. “We decided to be super-responsible and self-quarantine so we haven’t stepped out of the apartment in … 11 days?”

BuzzFeed News talked to the people who spread the rumor, 33 folks in a group chat who targeted Radcliffe because they “needed someone who was famous but not famous enough to be unbelievable.” As the tweet got 311,000 impressions before the account was suspended, it looks like they achieved their goal.

As for why this group would want to pull this hoax, the reasoning is pretty despicable. Some said it was funny, another that “[w]e are training society to become more tech savvy.” Yikes.

Anyway, Radcliffe was also asked about the most outrageous rumor that’s ever been spread around about him. Surely there have been a lot over the years, given his Harry Potter fame. “At least three different times, somebody has written that [Darke and I are] getting married and Emma Watson is gonna be the maid of honor, and Rupert Grint is my best man, and we’re getting married on a lake in Michigan.”

Remember to listen to the advice of experts as the pandemic continues. And keep your hands clean!

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