Morgan Freeman Hoax Statement Circulates On Facebook

A statement attributed to award-winning actor Morgan Freeman is currently making the rounds on Facebook.

Morgan Freeman hoax statement circulates on Facebook

In the statement, the veteran actor allegedly blames media for sensationalizing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings that left 20 children and several adults dead.

Freeman has denied making the said remark, which started to become viral on the popular social networking site over the weekend.

A copy of the statement posted on the Facebook page called "Things That Make You Go Hmm." has received over 357,000 likes and has been shared over 155,000 times as of posting time, with more than 20,000 comments. 

The Morgan Freeman hoax statement reads as follows:

"Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened in Connecticut:

You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.…

It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbedpeople who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN’s article says that if the body count “holds up”, this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer’s face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer’s identity? None that I’ve seen yet. Because they don’t sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."