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Today Show Apologises After Live TV Fail Claiming Bob Dylan Died

The show aired a banner across its screen that read, “Late singer’s documents sell for $495 thousand”.

The ‘Today’ show was forced to apologise on Sunday morning after it mistakenly told viewers that musician Bob Dylan was dead.

During an entertainment segment about the singer’s memorabilia being auctioned off in Boston, the Channel 9 breakfast program aired a banner across its screen that read, “Late singer’s documents sell for $495 thousand”.

Within an hour of it going to air, weekend host Richard Wilkins informed viewers that the show had made an error and apologised for “any confusion” caused.

The ‘Today’ show apologised on Sunday morning after it mistakenly told viewers that musician Bob Dylan was dead by referring to him as 'late singer'.
Channel 9
The ‘Today’ show apologised on Sunday morning after it mistakenly told viewers that musician Bob Dylan was dead by referring to him as 'late singer'.
Presenter Richard Wilkins told viewers that the show had made an error and apologised for “any confusion” caused.
Channel 9
Presenter Richard Wilkins told viewers that the show had made an error and apologised for “any confusion” caused.

“We need to make a correction now,” he said. “About half an hour ago on our entertainment chat, we incorrectly ran a banner on your screen about Bob Dylan. It was false and we apologise for any confusion.”

Watch the full video at the bottom of this article.

Bob, 79, has been in the headlines after an archive of his correspondence and papers belonging to late blues artist Tony Glover were sold at an auction last week for $495,000. Tony, who died in May last year at age 79, had been friends with Bob for many years.

Included in the auctioned papers was a 47-page interview transcript between Bob and Tony, hand annotated by Bob himself in 1971.

Bob Dylan performs during the British Summer Time festival at Hyde Park in London, Friday, July 12, 2019. (Isabel Infantes/PA via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bob Dylan performs during the British Summer Time festival at Hyde Park in London, Friday, July 12, 2019. (Isabel Infantes/PA via AP)

The ‘Today’ show’s live TV blunder comes 11 years after the same host, Richard, mistakenly said American actor Jeff Goldblum had died while filming a movie in New Zealand.

Fellow Channel 9 presenter Karl Stefanovic later told viewers: “We just heard via Twitter that Jeff Goldblum’s death was announced as a hoax in an attempt to drive internet traffic to their site”.

The network wasn’t the only media outlet at the time to incorrectly report that Jeff had died after a Global Associated News alert had been sent out.

Watch the full video here:

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