Quote from Morgan Freeman about US school shootings is a hoax

A quote supposedly from Morgan Freeman about the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is a hoax, says his publicist.

The remarks blaming the media for the shootings, in which 26 people were killed – including 20 children – were attributed to the outspoken Hollywood actor over the weekend and promptly went viral.

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But his publicist Stan Rosenfield has said that he never made or posted any such statement, and that they are trying to find the origins of the hoax.

Part of the lengthy statement read: “It’s because of the way the media reports it. Turn on the news and see how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single 'victim' of Columbine?

“Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basement see the news and want to top it by doing something worse and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster instead of a sad nobody.

“So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or maternity ward next.

“You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.”

But the origins of the hoax may have been spotted by Reddit users, who have directed people towards a Facebook post almost identical to that falsely attributed to Freeman by a user called Mark from Vancouver.

He later commented on his own post: “If I know the Internet, someone will attribute the quote to Morgan Freeman or Betty White and it'll go viral. [edit] OH GOD IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING.”