A billboard in India dedicated to the memory of Nelson Mandela confused the late South African president with Morgan Freeman and used the actor’s photo instead.
The Chennai-based businessman who paid for the billboard on the roadside in Coimbatore, India, out of respect for Nelson Mandela said that he will make sure that the correct picture goes up. The billboard also contains the images of Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, and reportedly reads in Tamil that “We should be proud that we were part of an era when they lived.” The businessman did not explain how the mistake occurred. India observed five days of national mourning for the highly respected, anti-apartheid leader.
This may be a case of art imitating life or vice versa because Morgan Freedom starred as Nelson Mandela in the the 2009 film Invictus, a biopic that also featured Matt Damon as the captain of South Africa’s rugby team Francois Pienaar. The movie focuses on Mandela, shortly after he was released from prison, trying to unite blacks and whites in South Africa to support the national team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
At the time of Nelson Mandela’s death at age 95 in early December, many very confused Twitter users reported that Morgan Freeman had died instead apparently because of the resemblance between the two men.
Commenting on Nelson Mandela’s death, Morgan Freeman described him as “‘a saint to many, a hero to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the dignity of humankind.” He added that “As we remember his triumphs, let us, in his memory, not just reflect on how far we’ve come, but on how far we have to go. Madiba may no longer be with us, but his journey continues on with me and with all of us.”
In a separate but far more bizarre occurrence, a Detroit radio station somehow confused Alex Rodriguez with Nelson Mandela when reporting on the December 5 passing of the South African leader. In a graphic labeled “Remembering Nelson Mandela,” NBC-affiliate WDIV-TV ran a picture of the Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez instead. See embed below.
A billboard in Chennai fondly remembers Nelson Mandela but gets a minor detail wrong (via @KS1729 ) pic.twitter.com/ueclb1kJJ0
— Samanth Subramanian (@Samanth_S) December 19, 2013
Perhaps the confusion between Morgan Freeman and Nelson Mandela is understandable to some limited degree, but Alex Rodriguez?
