Did Country Singer Joe Diffie Die from Lung Cancer?







The country music star passed away on March 29, 2020. 







































							False
["The cause of country music star Joe Diffie's death was lung cancer.", 'In March 2020, country music fans were saddened by the news that “Pickup Man” singer Joe Diffie had died from complications of COVID-19, the coronavirus disease. While fans of the singer mourned the loss, some social media users attempted to obfuscate the cause of Diffie’s death to further an unfounded claim that hospitals were inflating reported death counts from COVID-19 in order to increase funding.', 'One such social media post racked up more than 100,000 shares within a week:', '', 'Another person claimed that Diffie had actually died from lung cancer, not COVID-19:', '', 'There is no truth to these claims. Country musician Joe Diffie did not die from lung cancer, and the hospital did not alter the cause of death.', 'Diffie published a statement to his Facebook page on March 27, 2020, announcing that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19:', 'A few days later, on March 29, his Facebook page was updated again with a statement announcing that he had died due to complications from the disease:', 'GRAMMY®-winning country music legend Joe Diffie passed away today, Sunday, March 29 from complications of coronavirus (COVID-19). His family requests privacy at this time.', 'In addition to these official updates from Diffie’s social media pages, his wife, Tara, also disputed the claim that the singer died from lung cancer. On April 18, she took to Instagram writing that he “did NOT HAVE LUNG CANCER.” She further explained that the confusion may have started because Diffie’s father, also named Joe, had died from lung cancer a few years prior:', 'my husband\xa0@officialjoediffie\xa0did NOT HAVE LUNG CANCER. his father passed, same name, November 2018 to stage IV lung cancer. STOP STARTING FAKE NEWS. I’ve seen multiple posts and it’s upsetting to all of us.', 'The social media posts falsely claiming that the musician the died from lung cancer, not COVID-19, attempted to downplay a disease that, as of this writing, has killed nearly 170,000 people dead worldwide, including at least 40,000 in the United States. In addition, these posts are also causing the Diffie family pain and going against the wishes of the late singer.', 'When Diffie was first diagnosed with COVID-19, he told his fans to “to be vigilant, cautious and careful during this pandemic.”', 'Betts, Stephen. \xa0 “Joe Diffie, Nineties Country’s ‘Pickup Man,’ Dead at 61 From Coronavirus.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Rolling Stone. \xa0 29 March 2020.', 'Betts, Stephen and Patrick Doyle. \xa0 “John Prine, One of America’s Greatest Songwriters, Dead at 73.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Rolling Stone. \xa0 7 April 2020.', 'CMT. \xa0 “Joe Diffie Confirms He’s Tested Positive for Coronavirus.” \xa0\n\xa0 27 March 2020.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', 'A complete story is rarely told in a headline.', 'Social media rumors that two memorials in New York were vandalized proved misleading.', 'In August 2019, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man died after an encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado.', 'A chaotic scene in St. Louis sparked outrage, memes, and confusion.', 'Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on sex abuse charges connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.', 'The white supremacist group made frequent use of the slogan more recently embraced by President Donald Trump, though they did not, as some claim, invent it.', "The question of past arrests often surfaces among people who want to rationalize police officers' actions when Black men are killed in custody.", 'You can claim anything if you remove the barrier of evidence.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', '© 1995 - 2020 by Snopes Media Group Inc.', 'This material may not be reproduced without permission.', 'Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com']
Did Country Singer Joe Diffie Die from Lung Cancer?