Sound CheckNew York Times issues correction after mistakenly writing ‘the late Leonard Cohen’
In a weekend article about singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright and his journey to turning 40-years-old, the New York Times erroneously identified iconic artist Leonard Cohen as “the late Leonard Cohen."
https://twitter.com/scremily/status/349315069387087876
The Huffington Post reports that the Times corrected the error in the web version of the story, but that the mistake still ran in the June 23 print edition of the newspaper.
“An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Leonard Cohen,” the Times explained in their correction note. “The well-known singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist is very much alive; it is not the case that he is ‘the late Leonard Cohen.’”
Even though a correction was issued, it didn’t stop Twitter from noticing the slip-up.
https://twitter.com/sea4sky/status/349010278333177857
https://twitter.com/hormetic/status/348946804857008128
https://twitter.com/davidakaye/status/348878144377327617
https://twitter.com/PunkLawyer/status/348836592712044547
https://twitter.com/danielphoto/status/348806740130791424
Cohen is currently on tour overseas, and in case you were wondering, here’s the connection between the two artists:
In 2011, Wainwright and the Canadian legend’s daughter Lorca Cohen conceived a child together. In a press release on his website, the musician clarified that Lorca is the child’s mother and was not a surrogate for him and his husband.
“Darling daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen was born on February 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California to proud parents Lorca Cohen, Rufus Wainwright and Deputy Dad Jörn Weisbrodt,” the statement said.
It also read, “In many of the articles announcing the birth of Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen, Lorca Cohen is characterized as ‘the surrogate.’ Of course, she is no such thing. She did not carry the child for someone else. Lorca Cohen is the mother of the baby and Rufus Wainwright is the father.”
The two have been friends since childhood and in the Times article, it was at Lorca’s modern furnishings store Window where Wainwright found a birthday present (a very cool magic wand) for Weisbrodt when he turned 40.
To find out how you can see Leonard Cohen on tour, head here.
