Orange Is The New Black: Netflix hit wasn't cancelled – it was a hoax

Netflix reveals article claiming series has been axed was a spoof

Original Netflix Orange Is The New Black has not been cancelled, Netflix confirmed (Netflix)

Fans of Orange Is The New Black can breathe a heavy sigh of relief; the series has not been cancelled.

Explosive tweets and Facebook posts from angry fans of the show littered people’s social media feeds yesterday when an article from Empire News claimed the Orange Is The New Black’s third season had been axed, and that the first two seasons would be deleted from Netflix permanently.

Netflix’s co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings is quoted in the piece as wanting to have more male leads on the show, which revolves around a female prison.

“A woman’s place is in the home, in the kitchen, taking care of children. A woman in jail? How does anyone even watch this show in the first place? It’s like we took everything bad about OZ and make [sic] this show with the leftovers,” he is supposed to have said.

While many took the article as read, tweeting Netflix and threatening to cancel their descriptions as a result of the news, it was most certainly a hoax.

Empire News admits to being a “satirical and entertainment website” which only uses invented names in its stories, “except in cases when public figures are being satirised”.

Indeed, some of the site’s other articles carry headlines intended to shock and make people laugh, such as “Colorado becomes first state to legalize crystal meth,” and “Pennsylvania Burger Kind manager fired for eating a Big Mac”.

Despite this, the outrage shown by fans that the show - which received 13 Emmy nominations last week - may have been cancelled, caused Netflix to respond to the rumour, which had begun trending on Twitter.

“Don’t worry, dandelions! @OITNB is not cancelled,” it tweeted, with a link to the Instagram account documenting the current production of the show’s third season, while the show’s official twitter account said: “Whoever started this rumor will be spending some time in the SHU.”

But fans were not immediately assuaged, with Netflix having to send out a second tweet hours later showing Danielle Brooks, who plays Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, and Uzo Aduba, who plays Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, on set for season three.