Newsreader confuses Bill Shakespeare, 81, ‘the first man to get the coronavirus vaccine’ with ‘one of the most important writers in the English language’
In what can only be described as a comedy of errors, an Argentinian TV news channel delivered a stunning, if slightly flawed, scoop on Thursday night when it reported that William Shakespeare, “one of the most important writers in the English language” had died five months after receiving the Covid vaccine.
The gaffe
of, well, Shakespearean proportions happened after Noelia Novillo, a newsreader
on Canal 26, mixed up the Bard with William “Bill” Shakespeare, an 81-year-old Warwickshire man who became the second person
in the world to get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
William
Shakespeare died in 1616, while his namesake died this week from a stroke unrelated to the jab.
Sadly, the
distinction was lost on Novillo as she informed viewers of the playwright’s
death during the 8-10pm slot on Thursday.
“We’ve got
news that has stunned all of us given the greatness of this man,” she said. “We’re talking about William Shakespeare and
his death. We’ll let you know how and why it happened. As we all know, he’s one
of the most important writers in the English language – for me the master. Here
he is. He was the first man to get the coronavirus vaccine. He’s died in
England at the age of 81.”
After the
clip exploded across social media, Novillo explained that she had expressed
herself badly and blamed the error on absent punctuation.
“Over the
past few hours, as I’m sure you will have seen, a report has gone viral. I
expressed myself badly; I missed out a full stop, a comma, some brackets. I
wanted to clear up something that was very unclear and of course people misinterpreted
it.”
But by
then, the damage had been done.
“There were
only a few years between them,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Let us not
cry for William Shakespeare,” said another. “He lived his life and enjoyed
people’s affection for centuries.”
Another added: “Such a fuss over William Shakespeare’s
death, but they didn’t mention that he was in such a bad way that he hadn’t
produced a hit in centuries. Overrated.”
William ‘Bill’ Shakespeare, no relation, receives the Pfizer vaccine at University hospital, Coventry. He has died of an unrelated illness. Photograph: Jacob King/PA
From The Guardian
