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General Hospital star Steve Burton and his wife, Michelle Lundstrom, are reminding fans of the sometimes toxic nature of social media after they had to refute some false rumors online. Burton (Jason Morgan) and his wife went to their Instagram accounts this week to clarify the truth about one rumor that has caused distress in their family.
On their Instagram Stories, the couple posted a screenshot of a Facebook page called “General Hospital Updates,” which reported that Burton had been diagnosed with cancer and was planning to temporarily leave the show for treatment in a real-life hospital.
General Hospital star does not have cancer
Lundstrom posted the screenshot and added a caption saying that her mother had called her, wondering if it was true. According to Lundstrom, her mom’s cousin had first seen this page on Facebook and then became worried enough to call her cousin, Lundstrom's mother.
Lundstrom also put in the caption, “This is a fake page and fake news. It’s so sick we have to continue to post about this garbage.” She also called it clickbait. Burton shared this post on his Instagram Stories.
Lundstrom also posted another screenshot from the same page, showing a picture of the couple that was clearly AI-generated and saying that Burton wasn’t leaving the show after all.
False news propagates
Burton and other soap stars often battle misinformation on social media. Like many longtime soap stars, there are numerous fake Burton profiles of people pretending to be him. On platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, it’s easy to find false information about actors and incorrect information listed as soap spoilers.
A quick search on YouTube revealed a recent video from a site similar to the one Burton and Lundstrom shared, claiming that Burton had cancer. That video had 3,000 views. There is another YouTube account that regularly publishes videos reporting what they say is breaking news that various General Hospital actors have suddenly died.
It’s easy to find sites on these platforms publishing wild and crazy predictions about current General Hospital storylines and listing them as official spoilers.
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As Lundstrom’s family experience shows, many people who use social media are fooled by these things, and celebrities in any genre have to deal with the fallout. It’s a reminder to all soap fans and consumers of media to always check your sources.
Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.
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