Fake News in the Wild

Almost immediately after the super bowl, two days to be specific, I went to class. Before the class started, my professor asked which of us had watched the game that Sunday and what we did with friends and family. The subject of The Weeknd's halftime show came up as one student raved about the artist's performance and the show he put on. Another student, an older man, shared that his group of friends had seen the word SATAN flash across the screen during the performance. He went on to explain how several friends paused their TVs to see the supposed satanic message, but gave us no proof other than his own account. After mere seconds of googling, I found out that no such message existed. During the performance, there was no reference to satan, nor was there any kind of implication. Even frame by frame replays gave no evidence. I was shocked to see people, no matter how many, believe something so silly. Especially whenever evidence was found with no effort.