RIP, No Not Yet: The Curious Case of Celebrity Death Hoaxes

Amitabh Bachchan

The Bachchan family seems to be the rumor mill’s chosen favorite. Not long ago, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan was at the receiving end of a similar hoax. On Feb 23, 2016, a news report claiming that the actor had been killed in a car crash started doing the rounds. The blog post announcing his death even shared details of his funeral were and asked readers to comment or like the page as an expression of their condolences. Things people do to grab eyeballs! The actor did not react to the hoax.

Dilip Kumar

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar’s frequent health issues made him easy bait for the online rumor mongers. Soon after the actor was admitted to a Mumbai hospital in 2014, a message announcing his death went viral on the instant messaging app, Whatsapp. Some frazzled members of the film fraternity even took to Twitter to express their condolences over the legendary actor’s demise. However, Amitabh Bachchan cleared the air with his tweet that read: “Some baseless rumors being spread about Yusuf Saheb - Dilip Kumar, being ill... Saira ji just informed me he is perfectly fine!”

Madhuri Dixit

That Dhak-Dhak girl Madhuri Dixit would die of a heart-attack is stuff irony is made of. Yes, the dancing diva too faced a death hoax, when reports emerged that she had died of a massive heart attack. Social media was abuzz with condolence messages by the time the actress took it upon herself to quell the rumor. This hoax, however, wasn’t totally unfounded. An unknown namesake of the actress had, in fact, succumbed to a heart attack in a hospital close to her residence, which led to some portals reporting her death without checking facts.

Rajnikanth

Even Rajnikanth, India’s own self-styled ‘superhero’, could not remain untouched by our penchant for rumors and gossip. Back in 2011, news about his death started doing the rounds on Twitter and soon spilled over to other social media platforms because the legendary actor has been hospitalized for a viral infection and allergic bronchitis. His wife had to come forward to assure the fans that he was alive and well when the news started spreading like wildfire.

Ayushmann Khurrana

Death hoaxes seem to a direct measure of a star’s popularity in the age of social media. After delivering back-to-back hits, Bollywood’s emerging star Ayushmann Khurrana found himself in the midst of a death hoax. A website reported that the actor had died in an accident while snowboarding in Switzerland. Ayushmann quelled the rumor with this tongue-in-cheek tweet, “I have been hearing some bizarre rumors about my demise. RIP rumor mongers. Thanks!”

Yo Yo Honey Singh 

When actors fall prey to death rumors, can singers be far behind! We say not. Popular Punjabi rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh too was a victim of a death hoax. Though the reports did not go into the details of the reasons behind the singer’s rumored death, there were some rather graphic images to validate the claim. Honey Singh responded to all the condolence messages with this tweet, “News of YoYo’s accident is a fake rumor must be spread by some haters. Please don’t bother and Keep blessing YoYo.”

Celebrity death hoaxes seem to be the easiest click bait for garnering hits and shares. We say don’t believe everything you read online. Take it all with a grain of salt.