Did Simon Cowell Just Die In A Car Accident?! Tech ARP

Did Simon Cowell just die in the hospital after a horrendous car accident?!

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Simon Cowell Just Died In A Car Accident!

People are sharing YouTube videos claiming to show Simon Cowell dying in a hospital after a horrendous car accident, with titles like :

Truth : Simon Cowell Did Not Die In A Car Accident!

This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and propagated by people to generate income from page views and YouTube advertising, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Simon Cowell Is Still Alive + Well!

Simon Cowell – the long-time judge on Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent is still very much alive and well, as of January 4, 2023.

That was when he spoke. to E! about how he backed out of hosting his own talk show due to “anxiety and stress”. Even though the set was being built, he just “couldn’t do it” and walked out of the studio, never to return.

Fact #2 : No Legitimate Media Outlet Report His Death

These YouTube videos have been circulating for weeks and months, but people don’t seem to notice that no legitimate media has reported his death.

Never mind his wealth, Simon Cowell is a celebrity in his own right. Even if he did not die, the worldwide media would have reported on his car accident.

No legitimate media outlet reported that Simon Cowell was involved in any car accident, much less died in a hospital after a horrendous car accident.

Fact #3 : The Photos Were Edited

I analysed the photos used in these videos, and traced the origin of four examples used in many of these videos.

This photo that shows Simon Cowell on a hospital bed, was edited from a real photo of a kidney transplant patient called Gerhard van Tonder. The photo was taken in October 2021 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Healthcare professionals will immediately notice that Simon Cowell is not intubated despite being mysteriously hooked up to a ventilator!

If you look carefully, you will also notice that Simon Cowell’s head is oddly larger than normal – to superimpose over Gerhard’s head in the real photo.

If you zoom into the fake photo, you can even see a white border around Simon Cowell’s head – a clear sign it was added to the photo.

The photo of this white SUV was taken on July 17, 2019 on Highway 6 near Freelton, Ontario, Canada. The driver was a 38 year-old woman, not Simon Cowell.

This photo was also misappropriated from another car accident, this time in the Selma neighbourhood in the San Fernando Valley, on May 9, 2021.

The driver was a 57 year-old woman who died in that accident. Again, not Simon Cowell.

This fake photo is a pretty good edit, albeit showing Simon Cowell smiling with his eyes closed – odd for someone who was dying or has already died.

But it was really a photo of Blake Bargatze, a 24 year-old man, who was being treated at a South Florida hospital for COVID-19 in March 2021.

Bargatze, unfortunately, did not qualify for the COVID-19 vaccine at that time, and got infected. His condition grew worse over time, and he eventually had to be placed on an ECMO machine to let his lungs heal.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and he ended up with a double-lung transplant in June 2021, to save his life.

Fact #4 : This Is Just Fake Celebrity News

This is yet another example of fake celebrity news created to generate page views and money through advertising, just like these examples:

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