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Banksy has NOT been arrested, despite a widespread hoax report claiming the infamous and anonymous street artist was taken into custody on Monday and revealed to be a 35-year-old named Paul Horner.
The original rumor comes from National Report, an irritating fake news site that tricks people into clicking on stories with sensational headlines and completely made-up content.
According to the 100 percent false Banksy report, the graffiti master and activist was arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police early on Monday and subjected to hours of questioning. The website fabricates supposed quotes from London Police Chief Lyndon Edwards about a “24-hour anti-graffiti task force.”
During a phony “press conference,” Edwards is quoted as saying, “We received word that around 2am a group of individuals left a flat speculated to be one of Banky’s art studios. This group was followed by agents and once vandalism had occurred, we then arrested the group, 5 men total. These individuals all had ID on them except for one, and that is the one we believed to be Banksy.”
“We then raided the studio where this group was last seen leaving from. Inside we found thousands of dollars of counterfeit money along with future projects of vandalism. We also found a passport and ID of a Paul Horner who matched the description of the man that we are currently holding,” added Edwards in what, again, was a nonexistent press conference.
The National Report claims the police chief said, “Horner is currently being held without bail on charges of vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering and counterfeiting. We are also holding the other four individuals whose names we are not releasing at this time.”
Even though NONE OF THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED, Banksy still became a Twitter trending topic, and the story was shared more than a million times on Facebook, leading to enormous confusion and anger over the use of police resources to apprehend Banksy.
Do not trust the National Report, and do not trust any outlet using its “reporting” to claim Banksy was arrested.
