Oops - the BBC says sorry after wrongly announcing death of The Fall frontman Mark E Smith

Virgin Radio

7 Mar 2017, 13:22

The BBC got itself into a bit of a pickle after wrongly announcing the death of legendary Madchester musician Mark E Smith.

The Twitter account for BBC Music posted what was surely meant to be a goodwill gesture on the 60th birthday of The Fall frontman. 

Instead, they tweeted "RIP Mark E Smith", accompanied by an emoji. 

Immediately, the Twittersphere cottoned onto the mistake - because, you know, Mark E Smith is very much alive - but there was a fair degree of confusion as well. 

Eventually, the BBC released a statement about their tweet: "This was a genuine human error.

The message was posted by mistake and swiftly deleted. We apologise."

No worries to the Beeb. We still find it amusing.