KUCHING, March 14: The Prime Minister’s Department has disproved as fake a screenshot allegedly of a news article headline saying Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim had declared Wednesday, March 15 a holiday to honour international star Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh’s trailblazing Oscar victory.
Yesterday, the department clarified in a Facebook post that the screenshot which has gone viral on social media with the headline ‘PM Anwar declares public holiday on Wednesday: ‘This is the pride of a nation!’ was false.
“The public is urged to refrain from disseminating or sharing any uncertain or false information. If unsure, don’t share,” the post advised.
The screenshot depicts a website that resembles The Star’s online news portal, which is owned by Star Media Group Bhd.
In a news story published yesterday, The Star also clarified that the screenshot is a hoax and a distortion of the truth of The Star’s actual news coverage.
The online news portal has confirmed that no such news story was carried amid the flurry of news on Yeoh’s historic Best Actress win at the 2023 Academy Awards in its Lifestyle section, which houses the Entertainment category.
Star Media Group has once again reiterated that its online news portal has not published any news stories regarding the declaration of a public holiday on March 15, 2023.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given an Asian woman the Oscar for best actress in a leading role for the first time in its 95-year history.
Yeoh accepted her Oscar yesterday for her role in ‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’ as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese first-generation immigrant proprietor of a laundromat at the heart of the film’s absurdist multiverse. — DayakDaily
