Argentinian TV host resigns after falsely reporting death of Lionel Messi’s father

Members of a news crew in Argentina have lost their jobs after falsely reporting the death of Lionel Messi’s father. Florencia Peña announced on Luzu ⁠TV that Jorge Messi had died and went on to suggest that Messi would not play any further matches in the ongoing World Cup. In the aftermath of the report, the ⁠Messi family issued ⁠a statement on Thursday announcing that Messi Sr. was in hospital with an undisclosed medical issue, but was “progressing favourably”. Following the report, Peña resigned from her position and issued an apology to the family, blaming the production crew for feeding incorrect ⁠information to her via her earpiece during a live broadcast. “I apologise to the Messi family for the awful moment I imagine they are going through,” Peña later wrote on social media, translated from Spanish. “I am deeply ashamed ⁠to have been the vehicle for this pain. I must clarify that this false information was provided to me during the live broadcast as verified ​by the production team of the show, and I trusted ‌it. “Even so, I take responsibility for ‌being part of the mistake, and that’s why I decided to step aside and end my participation in Luzu. I apologise again ‌from the heart; I was wrong.” Started in 2020, Luzu is a popular source of news in Argentina . It also issued a statement of apology and added that “those responsible” had been relieved of their duties. …