'Despicable Me' Star Miranda Cosgrove Arrested for Prostitution Is A Hoax
Reports that actress Miranda Cosgrove was arrested for prostitution are false. Rumors that the “iCarly” and “Despicable Me” star was arrested earlier this month stemmed from a parody news video.
According to Snopes, the fake claim originated in a video shared by NotThis News, a parody Twitter account. “Miranda Cosgrove is in custody today,” the parody video claimed. “The ‘iCarly’ star was arrested at a truck stop last night for prostitution. The Nickelodeon royalty was seen parading streets in Compton, California exchanging money for sex.” The video also alleged that Cosgrove was charged with battery and that she would be going to rehab for a glue-sniffing addiction. The video, however, is nothing more than a spoof.
iCarly child star MIRANDA COSGROVE has been ARRESTED for prostitution pic.twitter.com/pk9y9Y8ycP
— NotThis News (@NotThisUS) July 14, 2017
The satirical story uses TMZ and Al Jazeera logos throughout the video to make the report seem more genuine. The TMZ article about Cosgrove’s arrest is not real and most of the footage in the video was actually taken from her time on “iCarly.” While NotThis News does acknowledge in their Twitter bio that they are a parody account, the video uses the actual NowThisNews logo, which could lead to some confusion.
The parody video was also shared by the High Zone Facebook page and has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. Many commenters acknowledged that the report was a spoof and shared “iCarly” memes in response to the ridiculous story.
The real NowThis News is a digital news company that distributes mostly bite-sized news videos directly to social feeds. Some of their most popular videos are entertainment and feel-good stories, however, they also tackle social issues.
Cosgrove has posted photos on her Instagram multiple times since the parody video was released, which would be awfully hard to do had she actually been arrested. Cosgrove is best known for her roles in the “Despicable Me” franchise, “School of Rock” and Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” and “Drake and Josh.”
