Celebrities Killed by the Internet!
The internet's a killer. Twitter and Google have a way of spreading news like wildfire, especially when it comes to a celebrity's untimely "demise". Over the years, the internet has helped fake death stories go viral within a matter of hours, fooling the average person (and sometimes close friends of that person) into believing that another beloved star has shuffled off this moral coil. We are, of course, using the term "beloved" loosely, because no one cares about Paris Hilton.#1. Jeff Goldblum
The day after Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett died (June 26, 2009), rumors of Jeff Goldblum's passing started to appear online. A news story generated by FakeAWish.com reported (under the fake news outlet “Global Associated Press”) that Goldblum had fallen from the Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand while on the set of a movie. The Australia Today Show reported on the potential truth of the story and mourned him, calling him a "good bloke."
If this story sounds familiar to you, that’s because the same exact rumor was circulated about Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and a plethora of other actors, most of which were started by the FakeAWish.com team.
Jeff Still Alive:
Goldblum appeared on The Colbert Report several days later to deliver his own obituary and relish his own compliments of having had "Brando's muscularity" and a "verbatim" quote from a former conquest that described sex with him "like being caught in a flesh storm with a 90% chance of satisfaction."
#2. Jackie Chan
On March 29, 2011, a week and a half after Nate Dogg's death and a few days before April Fools’ Day, a hoax web page designed to look like a TV news site claimed Jackie Chan had die
d of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital as the result of his stressful schedule promoting Kung Fu Panda 2. "RIP Jackie Chan" became one of the most popular Tweets that day.
The “news” story quoted Will Smith as having said on Facebook, "A remarkable actor, he will be forever missed and always in our hearts. RIP Jackie". President Obama was reported as saying "Jackie Chan is a man who can talk through talent, he is a constant reminder of the strength of humanity. He will forever be in our hearts, a true inspiration who inspired many generations. First it's Nate Dogg then it's Jackie Chan."
According to the story, MTV would host a special memorial service for Chan.
Jackie Still Alive:
Photos were posted on Chan's official website showing him with the Consul-General of Japan, Yuji Kumamaru, whom he had met to discuss the details of an event "Love Without Borders 3/11 Candlelight Gala" which was scheduled for April 1st in Hong Kong and would benefit the victims of the Japan earthquake on March 11th.
#3. Britney Spears
Britney Spears was one of the earliest celebrity “victims” of the Internet and has been one of the most frequent. On June 12, 2001, a radio station in Dallas (KEGL 97.1) reported that Spears had died in a car crash with a pretzel van while driving with Justin Timberlake.
Fans desperately sought confirmation of the pop star's death on internet message boards and by the next day, the news had been forwarded around the world via email. A fake BBC web page offered more details about the crash while fans called into L.A. fire and police departments for answers.
Britney Still Alive:
The Dallas radio station responsible for the rumor finally apologized several days later, stating that the two DJs had aired an erroneous report. They were subsequently fired. Spears' publicist issued a statement saying "There is no truth to the rumor circulating around the world that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were involved in a car accident on Tuesday."
Four months later, a hacker from Michigan, Tim Fries, reported the exact same story and received 120,000 hits within 12 hours. He claimed to have published the "story" in the name of "research."
#4. Adam Sandler
On December 28, 2010, FakeAWish.com (oh, you jokesters) released a story about Adam Sandler that had been tied to Charlie Sheen's fake death not even two days prior. According to the source, while snowboarding in Zermatt, Switzerland “Sandler lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed…Sandler was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the actor died instantly from the impact of the crash.”
The exact same scenario was used for Jim Carrey's fake death at the beginning of March 2011, which forced his publicist to confirm to the media that he was still alive. A week later, the same story that had appeared in December about Adam Sandler's death resurfaced and duped everyone again.
Adam Still Alive:
You'd think that by now that people would have wised up to the repetitive rumors, but sadly, this wasn't the case. Sandler appeared on Jay Leno to promote Just Go With It and to state that when he does die "it will be in America, and it won't be on a snowboard; it will either be on a toilet or hanging from a belt, naked".
#5. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus has terrible luck with the internet and should probably just stay away from it permanently. In September 2008, a news story was posted on Yahoo! saying that Cyrus had died in a car accident.
A month later, a hacker posted a video on the "Miley and Mandy Show" YouTube account, claiming to be from Mandy Jiroux, and stating that Cyrus had died after being hit by a drunk driver. Fans who saw the YouTube video were devastated, one even remarking that "Today was so bad, I saw that video and I actually thought that Miley had died. I couldn't even breathe, it was horrible!!! I would not be able to live without Miley. She is my role model."
Miley Still Alive:
After the first incident, Cyrus' appearance at her concert in New York disproved the hoax. The second time around, Jiroux posted on her Myspace that Cyrus was okay.
But, here's a picture of the news story on Yahoo! News:
#6. Oprah Winfrey
When Oprah defended a Senate bill against pedophiles and child rapists on her show, she mentioned the 4chan group Anonymous, a member of which had left a comment on her website. This person claimed to be part of a network of pedophiles.
"[He] doesn't forgive. [He] doesn't forget. His group has over 9,000 penises [hahahaha], and they are all raping children," Winfrey said on her show. "I want you to know they are organized, and they have systematic ways of hurting children."
As revenge, 4chan released a fake news story saying that Oprah had been found dead at her home in Chicago. Different causes of death were posted on Wikipedia and Digg, one claiming that she had been feeling chest pains, and the other describing her body as having a bloody area around her eyes, a bullet wound in her stomach, and various cuts and bruises.
Oprah Still Alive:
4chan admitted to having made up the hoax, Photoshopping numerous screenshots of news stories to encourage the spread of the false news.
Here's the news story on the BBC:
#7. Zach Braff
In 2007, Chris Laganella, a huge (ie: creepy) fan of Scrubs, copied a CNN web page and made up a story about Zach Braff's "death" as a prank to amuse his friends. The story claimed that Braff had overdosed on pills in his 32,000 square ft. Beverly Hills home, but didn't mention where Turk was at the time.
On October 12, 2009 the story was circulated through Twitter. One confused person even tweeted "What's this I hear about Zach Braff being murdered by the ghost of Jeff Goldblum?"
Zach Still Alive:
Braff was cool enough to take the time to make a Facebook video disproving the story, and awarded Laganella his very first "Douche of the Day Award" for upsetting his mother. Laganella apologized here.
Here's the news story on CNN:
#8. Paris Hilton
While Paris Hilton was in jail for her violating probation on a DUI in June 2007, news that she had been stabbed spread all over Twitter like herpes on her vagina. A man named Mike Burke was annoyed that Hilton had made front page news with her usual drama and created a fake CNN story. According to the release, Hilton had been stabbed by a fellow inmate after she had been verbally assaulted by the heiress. The weapon, according to the source, was a shank made from a sharpened metal ruler.
Paris Still Alive:
Hilton has attempted to fight back by blogging about the fake headlines, including another false report that she had committed suicide on MySpace.
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