Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek was forced to deny a false report of her death for the second time in less than a year, after several German and Austrian media outlets reported the story on Tuesday, June 17. The writer herself quickly denied the news to AFP, ironically stating: "Again? This is the second time I've died. It happened to me last year. But I'm still here."
False information from account X
The news of Jelinek's death, 78, was spread on the social network X by a fake account claiming to be a subsidiary of Rowohlt Verlag, one of the leading German-language publishers. The account, which displayed a logo and name similar to those of the publisher, posted a message claiming the Austrian author was dead.
Many media outlets, including Der Standard, ORF, and some local X-media accounts, briefly reported the news before backtracking. Emotions were also high on social media, where many readers expressed their sadness until the hoax was finally exposed.
This fake death is a new operation by Tommasso Debenedetti, an Italian journalist and professor known for his media hoaxes. In a second message, the same X account acknowledged the origin of the rumor: "The fake news is a hoax created by me, the Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti."
Tom Massi Debenedetti has been claiming these manipulations for years to denounce the lack of attention paid by certain media outlets to verifying sources. He has already "killed" figures as diverse as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Popes Francis and Benedict XVI, and writers Cormac McCarthy, Peter Handke, and Milan Kundera.
In July 2024, a first false announcement of Jelinek's death, also orchestrated by Debenedetti, had already circulated online.
The publishing house forced to react
The real Rowohlt Verlag quickly issued a denial on its own social media, reiterating that it had nothing to do with the fraudulent account. On Facebook, it stated: "We confirm that the news of Elfriede Jelinek's death is false. This account does not belong to us."
As a reminder, Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, is known for her sharp and critical novels on Austrian society, such as The Lovers ou The Pianist, adapted for the cinema by Michael Haneke…
