Pelé is not dead. But the employment that the social media handler at CNN's morning show, "New Day" just might be.
According to extramustard.si.com, the official Twitter account of the news network's morning program, came up with a huge breaking story Friday morning when it tweeted that Pelé, arguably the greatest and most famous soccer player in history, had died.
Unfortunately for "New Day," facts got in the way of a good scoop. No one at "New Day" bothered to confirm the news and representatives for the 73-year-old Brazilian soccer star contacted CNN and killed the scoop.
CNN inaccurately declares Brazilian soccer legend Pele dead pic.twitter.com/H2tjM36xnq
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) March 28, 2014
Extramustard.si.com surmised that because the "New Day" Twitter feed broke the story, rather than the CNN Breaking News Twitter account, someone at CNN must have thought that the report already had been made public.
But the fact that the tweet included #BREAKING seems to suggest that "New Day" was trying to gain some credibility by getting the scoop.
Pelé helped Brazil win three World Cups (in 1958, 1962 and 1970). He was part of five international tournament team champions and seven national tournament and cup champions, including the New York Cosmos in 1977 in Major League Soccer.
As recently as 2010, Pelé was named honorary president of the new New York Cosmos franchise and took part in the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in London in 2012 as it transition to his host country for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
And for the record, most websites list Pelé's birthdate as Oct. 21, 1940, which would make him 73 years old, but the "New Day" tweet indicated he was 74.
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