Robin Williams Video / Photos Scam: ‘CNN Exclusive – Robin William Suicide Footage Leaked By Hotel CCTV’ Post is Fake

Robin Williams Video / Photos Scam: ‘CNN Exclusive – Robin William Suicide Footage Leaked By Hotel CCTV’ Post is Fake
FILE - This March 27, 2010 file photo shows actor Robin Williams speaking at The 24th American Cinematheque Awards honoring Matt Damon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Williams, whose free-form comedy and adept impressions dazzled audiences for decades, has died in an apparent suicide. He was 63. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office said Williams was pronounced dead at his home in California on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. The sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation showed the cause of death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.(AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, File)
Jack Phillips
8/18/2014
Updated:
6/24/2015

Robin Williams’ “suicide footage” was not leaked in a CNN exclusive, but a viral Facebook scam is saying otherwise.

The post includes an image of a man who looks like Williams, but that photo is actually of someone else and was from a Spanish website a few years ago, according to TMZ.

It reads: “CNN Exclusive – Robin William Suicide Footage Leaked By Hotel CCTV.”

When users click on the post, they’re taken to a page designed to look like Facebook, which then prompts them to share it first before going any further.

After that, the website offers bogus surveys or possibly malware, according to the CyberWarZone blog.

 

AP update on Williams’ death:

Lessons of stigmas, stereotypes in Williams’ death 
NEW YORK (AP) — Jamie Masada, the owner of the fabled Los Angeles-based comedy club the Laugh Factory, vividly remembers a warm exchange with comic Richard Jeni of the two sharing words of encouragement and gentle ribbing.

“The next day I heard he put a gun in his mouth and blew his head off,” recalled Masada of Jeni’s 2007 suicide. “At that point I said, ‘God, could I do something to somehow prevent that?’”

A few years later, having watched his “family” continuously depleted, Masada did do something. He began having a psychologist at the club several nights a week, offering stand-ups the opportunity for free sessions.

Robin Williams, a frequent Laugh Factory performer who committed suicide Monday, marked only the latest comic genius to be plagued by demons of depression and addiction. But seldom has the gulf between the bright buoyancy of the performer and the inner pain of the man seemed greater or more unfathomable. How did someone who suffered such demons summon such starbursts of generosity and glee?

Like countless others this week, Conan O‘Brien remembered Williams’ great capacity for thoughtfulness and kindness. When O’Brien was feeling down during the “Tonight Show” debacle, a bike arrived out of the blue from Williams, outfitted for maximum ridiculousness. Said O'Brien: “It’s particularly courageous for someone to be that generous of spirit in the face of that kind of depression.”

Such tales don’t make it any easier to reconcile Williams’ life with his sad fate. The magnitude of the shock over Williams’ death has been matched only by the outpouring of grief for his loss. “I'll never, ever understand how he could be loved so deeply and not find it in his heart to stay,” said his 25-year-old daughter, Zelda Williams. “He was always warm, even in his darkest moments.”

Williams’ publicist has said he had recently fought severe depression. Williams himself had occasionally spoken about his struggles (“Do I get sad? Oh yeah. Does it hit me hard? Oh yeah,” he told Terry Gross in 2006) and funneled his fights with alcoholism and addiction into his act. He largely won his battles with substance abuse except for several relapses quickly followed by rehab, including a stint at Hazelden in Minnesota last month. His widow, Susan Schneider, added Thursday that Williams also was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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