Legendary artist David Hockney’s death at the age of 88 was announced today, but the BBC wrongly reported the news in one of their TV bulletins- and it didn’t go unnoticed
Legendary artist David Hockney died today at the age of 88, prompting an outpouring of grief from the art world.
But instead of reporting the ‘death’ of one of the most successful British artists of all time, the BBC mistakenly said he’d ‘resigned’ in a report that was shown on TV in a huge banner across the screen.
The blunder was immediately spotted by viewers – with one sharing a photo of the error on X that was just captioned with the word “Errrr @BBCNews.”
Other social media users were quick to comment, with one posting: “Unfortunate caption error on BBC News…RIP David Hockney.” Another wrote: “Immediately followed by: “BBC News producer resigns.”
A third questioned: “Resigns from… life?” A fourth commented off the back of that: “This is the right thing to do, his position as an artist is untenable now because he’s *checks news* … died. Do you think the BBC might be a bit too addicted to political drama?”
While a fifth urged the BBC to make an apology and said: “David Hockney dies and the bbc news at one say this. I hope they apologise to his family. Why is the @BBCBreaking @BBC so useless??”
Offering up one theory as to why the error happened, another X user wrote: “There must be some embarrassment at BBC 1 news this afternoon. BBC headline caption said ‘David Hockney resigns’…resigns from life that is…the iconic artist has died at the age of 88. Perhaps their error was down to so many government resignations these past few weeks.” The Mirror has approached the BBC for comment on this story.
In another blunder, Scarlett Clark, the granddaughter of David Hockney’s muse accidentally swore during a live segment.
“He just said to enjoy and paint what you love and yeah just f**k everyone,” she said, as she quickly realised her error and profusely apologised.
Earlier on in the day Hockney’s publicist said he peacefully yesterday at home. A statement read: “The celebrated British artist David Hockney, one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries, passed away peacefully at home on 11 June 2026, one month short of his 89th birthday.”
It continued: “David Hockney’s enduring legacy reflects his underlying enthusiasm for life, his outstanding sense of humour, his immense generosity, and his investigative curiosity encapsulated by his signature phrase, Love Life. Details of memorials will follow in due course.”
Born in Bradford in 1937 and one of five children, Hockney sold his first painting of his father for £10 in 1957 after leaving school.
He went on to study at the Royal College of Art and had dedicated himself to improving his drawing skills at art school, although he clashed with some of the posher students.
But it was his move to Los Angeles in 1964 which brought the decisive shift in his work that was to truly make his reputation as one of the most important contemporary artists ever to have lived.
“The moment I got to America I thought ‘This is the place,'” he once said, “I was drawn towards California, which I didn’t know… because I sensed the place would excite me. No doubt it had a lot to do with sex.”
In the early 20002 Hockney moved back to Yorkshire and had suffered a few health problems in recent years. But he said he would be happy as long as he could still paint. It was believed he was still painting up to six hours a day up until he died.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
