Operation Drake

Submission 7,601

Part of a series on Internet Death Hoaxes. [View Related Entries]

About

Operation Drake is an Internet death hoax orchestrated by members of 4chan to spread a false rumor on YouTube that the Canadian rapper Drake has been killed in a car accident in late November 2015.

Origin

On November 23rd, 2015, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a post to the /b/ (random) board urging viewers to post comments that Drake had died in a car crash to his music videos on YouTube (shown below).

ITT: We go to YouTube and tell them on Drakes video he died in a car crash. Like each others' comments. Dislike and report those that deny it and try to call bullshit.

Spread

That day, YouTubers began posting comments on Drake's music videos claiming the rapper had died in a car accident. Shortly after, Redditor bidhansth posted a collection of posts about Drake's death to the /r/4chan^[2] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 5,300 votes (94% upvoted) and 370 comments within 13 hours.

Meanwhile, BuzzFeed^[3] community user JohnWeaverReporting submitted a post titled "Rapper Drake Dies in Fatal Car Accident," which was subsequently removed by BuzzFeed staff. Also on November 23rd, Redditor Kantor48 submitted a post asking "Why does everyone seem to think Drake is dead?" to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[1] subreddit, to which user Chewy_Lemon cited the 4chan operation. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the hoax, including HipHopEarly,^[4] MediaMass^[5] and Complex.^[6]