Lessons from the Steve Harvey viral rumours

This past weekend, American comedian and TV show host Steve Harvey woke up to find himself trending globally over a rumour that could have potentially ruined his career. For some reason, an unverified rumour about Steve and his wife Marjorie went viral. Not only was the rumour false, it was the top discussion across most social media platforms all over the world.

The rumour started as a split between the couple. Then morphed into a longer story about how Marjorie cheated on Steve with his personal chef and bodyguard. Then it turned into a divorce talk where she was taking half his network. By Monday morning everyone had added their two cents to the story or added more unverified stories to it and the whole thing just turned into a messy snowball of hearsay.

The worst part about the rumour is not the fact that someone made up damaging information about a couple that could have potentially ruined their careers or worse broken up their families. The worst part about this situation is how easily people believed it, how excited they were at the prospect of something bad happening to a popular celebrity and how they were eating up the dirt with so much glee at the misfortune of someone else. Some went as far as to add more damaging tales to the original story.

I could not help but be amazed at what was happening. I could just imagine the man waking up next to his wife and receiving frantic calls from his people about how his wife was leaving him. I wondered if he went online to see for himself just how far people would go to drag his name in the mud. All for the sake of entertainment.

Some of these people have cheered him on his journey to be the successful man he is. Some of them regard him as one of the best hosts and comedians of his generation. Yet these very same people who revered him for his work were about to make him lose everything over baseless rumours.

I couldn’t help but think about all these people who took pleasure in wishing something bad happened to someone. Are we all so desperate to share our misery that we want the successful people to have a taste of what it's like to be miserable? Why then would we celebrate to see the potential downfall or undoing of another person?

This rumour about Steve Harvey is not the first or last of its kind. As long as we have keyboard warriors who revel in posting, reposting, sharing and making up such rumours about other people, there will always be fodder for the flock. People who bask in the glory of internet fame by trying to destroy other people's hard work and families are the lowest types of humans in my view. Who else would enjoy destroying another person's reputation for the fun of it?

I believe the Internet has drawn conclusive proof of what our ancestors have been saying for years. People will always take pleasure in your downfall, they will speak on how they felt "something was not right" or pile on to the rumour by saying how they heard something similar from someone else. Underachievers who have little cause to celebrate in their own lives will delight in the misfortune of those who are always more successful than them.

There you have it folks, evidence that the journey to success will be a lonely trial, but your downfall will be a cause for celebration for many.