A death hoax is a report of a person’s death, which is reported incorrect or rumored death, which in most cases the person has intentionally faked his or her death. Hoax deaths or fake death among celebrities had been widely popular via media or Internet in the past years. Death hoaxes are not a new event, there were hoax reports of celebrity deaths such as Charlie Chaplin and Frank Sinatra in 1945, among other celebrities of the time, and one of the most famous hoax deaths of celebrity was the rumor of the late 1960’s event, the Paul (McCartney) is dead. That actor and comedian Eddie Murphy was rumored dying in a snowboarding accident in December 2013 during the sudden death of actor Paul Walker. Other cases of celebrity death hoaxes spread over social media which includes death hoax of Jon Bon Jovi, Celine Dion and Jerry Springer.
1) Paul McCartney
Paul Mccartney, 73
In 1969, the famous Beatles member, Paul McCartney was proclaimed dead, which was supposedly he was “killed” in 1966 by a caller on a WKNR-FM Detroit to radio DJ Russ Gibb. While DJ Roby Yonge of New York was fired for announcing Paul McCartney’s “death” on a late show. The urban legend of Paul is dead and a conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney died in 1966, and was replaced in secret by his look-alike.
2) Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Combs, 61
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor best known for playing roles in horror film, such as Re-Animator, Star Trek (played nine onscreen characters) and the TV franchises of DC Animated Universe. Combs was reported dead by news media outlets, when he was confused with Jeffrey Coombs, a businessman, who was on board American Airlines Flight 11 which was hijacked and crashed during the September 11 attacks into the World Trade Center . Actor Jeffrey Combs announced publicly that he was still alive and denied his rumored death.
3) Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe, 51
Russell Ira Crowe is an actor, film producer and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia and identifies himself as an Australian. On June 10, 2010, Crowe was reported dead on a radio station Z-100 broadcast in New York City, but was later clarified by Crowe’s representative.
4) Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin, 35
A report of hoax death of actor Macaulay Culkin, circulated on the internet in November 2014, stating that actor Culkin had been found dead in his apartment in New York City. However, Culkin announced the false report by posting pictures of himself on Twitter, even made fun at the hoax death by writing a caption about “the great things you can do when you’re alive”
5) Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus, 23
A false news article by Reuters spread around the Internet, on September 5, 2008, and claimed that Miley Cyrus had died in a terrible car accident, and was also reported by TMZ, but was debunked immediately, as Miley Cyrus performed in concert the following Friday. On November 16, 2008, another similar incident of her “death”, when someone hacked into Cyrus’ account on her YouTube and posted a video stating she died after being hit by a drunk driver. And again, a hoax death news, began circulating on Facebook on September 3, 2013, claiming that Miley Cyrus has committed suicide due to traumatic stress.
6) Celine Dion
Céline Dion, 47
On October 24, 2013, a hoax death messages began circulating claiming singer, Celine Dion died.
7) Madonna
Madonna, 57, by David Shankbone
On September 28, 2010, a BBC News video uploaded on YouTube and proclaimed Madonna was dead. The news network never commented on this false news, and the video has been considered by several people, as a leak from BBC News archive of obituaries.
8) Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum, 63
On the same day actress Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, actor Jeff Goldblum was reported dead on Channel Nine news in Australia. The report was debunked quickly, and traced back to a hoax website. Goldblum’s career began in the mid-1970s, and he was best known for his roles in major box-office successes such as, The Fly, Jurassic Park, its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and Independence Day. Goldblum also starred for the eighth and ninth seasons of crime drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent of the USA Network as Detective Zach Nichols.
9) Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner, 89
Hugh Hefner founder and chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises and American adult magazine publisher, businessman, and a well-known playboy, was reported dead of heart attack on July 11, 2011. In 1985, Hugh Hefner had a minor stroke at the age of 59. Hefner announced in 2012, that his youngest son, Cooper, would succeed him as the Playboy‘s public face.
10) Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson, 43
On April 12, 2014, American actor Dwayne Johnson, was reported dead, but Johnson posted a photo on Instagram, working out at the gym, to disproved the hoax death story. A similar story in May 2011, that New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm was proclaimed death via social media, Facebook, and stated that Malcolm had fall 60 feet at Kauri Cliffs while shooting a film. At that time, Johnson was stated filming Fast and Furious 7, which has no schedule shooting the film in New Zealand, however, if the news was true, it would be the second celebrity death during the filming after actor, Paul Walker‘s sudden death in November 2013.
11) James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones, 84
In 1998, actor James Earl Jones was falsely announced dead by play-by-play announcer Lanny Frattare during a radio broadcast of a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. Frattare was confused with Earl Jones with Martin Luther King‘s assassin, James Earl Ray , who died due to chronic hepatitis C infection on April 23, 1998. In August 2015, Jones was also the subject of an internet death hoax and spread via social media, when a parody website posted news of Earl Jones’ death.