One of the leading Brazilian newspapers Folha de São Paulo on Monday announced the death of Elizabeth II. Millions of readers have been informed that the Queen has died "at the age of XX" "as a result of XXXXXXXX", according to The Guardian. "Elizabeth will go down in history as Britain's longest-reigning monarch", - the 1,300-word obituary said.
After the blunder became known, the newspaper staff removed the text, citing a “technical failure”, and published an explanation: “It is a normal practice in journalism to prepare materials in advance about possible situations, such as the death of world leaders, celebrities and public figures. Our publication regrets the mistake".
However, a wave of ridicule hit the newspaper's social networks. “God save Folha,” one reader tweeted. "It's nice that Folha doesn't want to reveal how old the queen was when she died," commented comedian Gregorio Duvivier. Someone remarked that, as an illustration to the text, they very conveniently put a photo in which the queen seemed to be laughing at the message of her own death.
The supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is often criticized by the newspaper, were especially active in oversight of journalists. Liberal Party member Oduvaldo Calixto joked: “Folha de São Paulo tried to kill the Queen of England to see if people would buy into it. If this happened, they would certainly try to kill President Bolsonaro as well”.