6. The Empire State Wasn’t Purple But People Thought It Was

Social media has a way of spreading misinformation and hoaxes quickly, and one of the most prominent instances of that is often around tributes. Similar to how the Empire State Building was mistaken for being red white and blue on the evening of the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015 (it actually went dark in tribute), it spread on social media that the landmark lights had gone purple for Prince. They were in fact, the standard white that evening. Hint: You can actually look up what the colors are for the Empire State Building on a given day for verification, and go back in time.

Many other monuments around the world were lit up in purple in tribute however, including the Superdome in New Orleans, City Hall in San Francisco, The Forum in Los Angeles, the Rain Room in Los Angeles, the I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis, where Prince was born, and more. Niagara Falls and the CN Tower in Toronto were purple but coincidentally – the lighting was intended for the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.