Iconic actor William Shatner called out Facebook on Tuesday after they promoted a fake news story on his birthday claiming that he was dead.
After a Twitter user sent a screenshot to Shatner of a “sponsored” post from “Avocet Retail Sales” on Facebook claiming that the Star Trek star had passed away.
Shatner wrote in response on Twitter, “Hey @facebook isn’t this your messenger app? What’s up with you allowing this Acocet Retail Sales ad to pass your muster? Thought you were doing something about this?”
Following Shatner’s complaint, Facebook’s Director of Product Management Rob Leathern promptly responded to let the actor know that the advertisement had been removed.
“Hi, I’m from Facebook. Thanks for letting us know about this. We have removed this ad and Page from Facebook,” Leathern declared, prompting Shatner to reply, “Thank you. I’m not planning on dying so please continue to block those kinds of ads.”
The timing of the Shatner-killing story was particularly untimely, as noted by Fox News: “The mistake comes at an especially upsetting time for the actor as he’s expected to celebrate his 87th birthday on Thursday, March 22, 2018.”
The news also comes as Facebook is in the middle of a public relations nightmare, stemming from a user data breach scandal that has affected tens of millions of Facebook users, tanked the price of the social media platform’s shares, and has led thousands of major advertisers to threaten to drop the platform.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.