A Fake Death Announcement Was Released on Twitter About Former President Jimmy Carter
The Carter Center denied that the letter was real.
Updated July 24 2024, 7:54 a.m. ET
On Feb. 18, 2023, former President Jimmy Carter made the decision to spend his remaining time at home with family under home hospice care. Since then, there were questions about when he would pass, and how his health would or wouldn't improve. At the time, he was 98 years old. So when a letter surfaced on Twitter on July 23, 3034 declaring that Carter had died, it was believed by many at first.
However, it turned out to just be a death hoax about Jimmy Carter. It's not the first time something like this has happened with a public figure, and no one quite knows why these hoaxes come to be or how they are believed with no real evidence to back them up. But what did the fake letter say and what did the Carter Center say in response to the hoax?
A Jimmy Carter death hoax made the rounds on Twitter.
On July 23, 2024, users on Twitter began to circulate an apparent letter announcing the death of Carter, and from there, the rumor became much larger. People believed that Carter, who is now 99 years old and remains under home hospice care, died. In a since-deleted tweet from a journalist Laura Loomer that other users took screenshots of, a letter with a fake letterhead that said The Office of Jimmy Carter declared that the former president had died "peacefully, with his family by his side."
While at first, no one questioned the letter, it wasn't long before it became more obvious that it wasn't real. It even includes a fake quote from Carter's son, James Earl "Chip" Carter. But there are also spelling errors throughout the letter which further proved to many that it was a hoax meant to make the rounds on Twitter and get people talking about false information.
What did the Carter Center say about the letter and the hoax about Jimmy Carter?
The Carter Center did not release an official statement regarding the death hoax. However, Atlanta News First reported that the foundation did confirm to the outlet that the letter is fake. Which is something many had figured out anyway, but the confirmation proves that the letter was an unnecessary hoax that likely didn't reach as far and wide as intended before it was put to rest.
Jimmy Carter remains at home under hospice care. He was last publicly seen in November 2023, when he attended his late wife and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter's funeral service in Plains, Ga. among other former presidents and officials.
