Photos of the Hollywood sign in flames amid the US wildfire are circulating online, they were all created by AI – Photo: X
As the wildfires
continue to escalate, news, images, and videos showing the giant Hollywood sign Americans, a symbol of world cinema, being engulfed in flames have made even more desperate.
However, the US media confirmed that this is fake news, all the images circulating online are either collages or created by AI.
Many people are gloating over the forest fire disaster in the US
As of the evening of January 9, the Hollywood sign was safe and the fire was temporarily separated by a freeway.
However, the fire still damaged the Hollywood sign’s wiring system, so it will not be able to light up as usual.
The Raw Alert account’s correction post with a photo taken behind the Hollywood sign shows that the location is still safe, and the fire has not spread to nearby areas – Photo: X
According to
The Hollywood Reporter
, the reason the fake news was spread was because a fire had spread to the Studio City residential area and was only a few kilometers away from the Hollywood sign, however this residential area is also located on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains so the possibility of the fire spreading here is also unlikely.
Not long after, people living near the area updated on X (formerly Twitter) that the icon of
the “City of Angels” Los Angeles
was still safe and sound.
An X account named Raw Alert even shared a live webcam pointing towards the sign to reassure the online community.
“Breaking News: Although a new fire is burning nearby, the Hollywood sign is not burned.
The images being circulated online are fake, this is a photo taken behind the Hollywood sign right now to make the information transparent” – the above account shared.
However, this did not stop users from continuing to share false images, creating confusion in the community as the fire became increasingly unpredictable.
The situation of the most serious forest fire disaster in the US is tense, creating opportunities for fake news to spread – Photo: Reuters
Many people were happy about the news that the fire had spread to Santa Monica Mountain because this is an area where the richest people in Los Angeles live.
Many X accounts believe that the rich people living here deserve to suffer.
So far, at least five people have died in the fires, more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed and at least 150,000 residents have been forced to evacuate.
Rescue teams are trying to control the damage, but strong winds and dry conditions are making the job more difficult.
is located in the Hollywood Hills area, at top Mount Lee, in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923, originally made of wood and steel, as Hollywoodland to promote a luxury housing development.
Because it was made of wood, the sign quickly deteriorated and was in danger of being demolished until Hugh Hefner, founder of
Playboy
magazine , donated money to rebuild it in 1978.
Currently, the sign is made of corrugated iron, mounted on a steel frame, making it more durable than when it was first erected, and this material will also make it less susceptible to fire damage.
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