Oprah slams fake reports of sexual trafficking claims

Because there aren’t enough disturbing headlines in the world right now, somebody decided that dragging Oprah Winfrey’s name through the mud might be a nice distraction. And so the rumours that the former queen of daytime television was somehow involved in a sex-trafficking scandal were born.On March 17 an unverified post on Twitter set the internet ablaze when it claimed that Winfrey’s house in Florida had been raided by authorities and that she’d been arrested on sex-trafficking charges. And whether it was because people just wanted to talk about something other than COVID-19 or because the idea that someone so wholesome could actually be involved in something like this, Oprah started trending. For several hours. Luckily, someone eventually thought to actually call the woman and check in, and she was able to jump online and set the record straight.

Just got a phone call that my name is trending. And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing. It’s NOT TRUE. Haven’t been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody.??

— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) March 18, 2020

“Just got a phone call that my name is trending. And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing,” she wrote. “It’s NOT TRUE. Haven’t been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody,” she wrote.[video_embed id='1875016']RELATED: Oprah's resident astrologer gives a lesson in astrology[/video_embed]Although her fans everywhere let out huge sighs of relief, people were quick to point out how disturbing it is that a mysterious tweet was able to cause so much mayhem. “The staggering amount of people believing a 100% fake story about Oprah doesn’t make me feel good about the chances of society continuing,” Andy Lassner, a producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, tweeted out.“Will these people look inward and think ‘during a world-altering pandemic, I'm spending my time randomly accusing celebrities of pedophilia because it's providing me a sadistic sense of order in a time of chaos?’ Lol, no,” wrote NBC News reporter Ben Collins.

Yall made Oprah tweet after midnight. You should be ashamed of yourselves https://t.co/iDKmFnYTsZ

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) March 18, 2020

Oprah’s name wasn’t the only one defiled by an unknown user named Chris Rizzoli, who has since deleted his (or her? Their?) account. The original post, which people have screen-grabbed and shared online, also accused Tom Hanks of using Coronavirus as a cover for his own supposed pedophile-related arrest, and that Celine Dion, Madonna, “Charley” Barkley and Kevin Spacey were next.At this point no one quite knows where the post came from, but Daily Mail reports it could stem from the conspiracy theorist group known as QAnon. After all, that’s the same group that has been responsible for sharing videos of Tom Hanks’ “sex-slave victims” and other disturbing fake news stories in the past.And as for Oprah? Well that’s the only post she made on the subject as she continues a well-earned rest after her star-studded 2020 Vision Tour, during which she took an epic tumble, cried with the likes of Lady Gaga, and wrapped it all up with her bestie, Gayle King. Oprah: 1, Conspiracy Theorists: 0. And so what’s shaping up to be one of the strangest years in recent history continues…[video_embed id='1923260']Before you go: How Hollywood is responding to COVID-19[/video_embed]