10 Hilarious Celebrity Responses to Fake Death Reports
1. Hugh Hefner
The Internet declared Hugh Hefner dead of a heart attack on July 11, 2011. No one was more surprised by the "news" of his passing than the (then) 85-year-old Playboy magazine founder himself, who responded with a series of tweets confirming he was alive and well, including:
"I'm happy to see how many people are pleased that I'm not dead. I'm pleased too."
2. Usher
R&B singer Usher received the fake news generator treatment on April 10, 2012, inspiring him to tweet a shirtless photo of himself with a caption reading:
"I must've died and went to heaven... Alive and cold kickin ass!!"
3. Jon Bon Jovi
After a flurry of fake news reports and vandalized Wikipedia entries declared him dead on December 19, 2011, Jon Bon Jovi took to his band's Facebook page and provided the clearest proof possible that the reports were false — a photo of himself holding a hand-lettered sign which read:
"Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey, Dec. 19th, 2011, 6:00"
4. Jeff Goldblum
The Twitterverse went crazy on June 25, 2009 after a prankster created a false online report claiming that actor Jeff Goldblum had fallen from a cliff to his death in New Zealand. A few days later, Goldblum went on Comedy Central to pretend-interrupt Stephen Colbert's pretend-coverage of the accident, protesting that he was not, in fact, dead:
"I'm so sorry to interrupt, my friend Stephen, but look, I'm not dead. In fact, last week I was not even in New Zealand!"
When Colbert informed Goldblum that New Zealand police had confirmed he was dead, the actor gave in and delivered his own eulogy:
"No one will miss Jeff Goldblum more than me. He was not only a friend and a mentor, but he was also... me."
5. Morgan Freeman
Actor Morgan Freeman has been a constant target of death hoaxes ever since late 2010, when a bogus retweet of a nonexistent CNN story claimed he had passed away in his Burbank home. The rumor-mongering reached a fever pitch in September 2012 after pranksters launched a Facebook page titled "RIP Morgan Freeman." Freeman fought back by posting the following words alongside a photo of himself on his Facebook page:
"Like Mark Twain, I keep reading that I have died. I hope those stories are not true... But if they are, I'm happy to report that my afterlife seems identical to my life when I was alive. I did go to Las Vegas to begin work on the film 'Last Vegas.' That is anything but a death sentence. -Morgan"
6. Zach Braff
Two years after Scrubs star Zach Braff was declared dead in a fake CNN article that few people ever saw, someone happened upon it and unleashed the story on Twitter. "Zach Braff is dead" hysteria reached critical mass on October 12, 2009, prompting the actor to post a rebuttal video on YouTube. Here's an excerpt:
"I'm alive. I'm here at Scrubs shooting the new Scrubs title sequence which is a little bit like dying, so I guess that was semi-accurate. Also, I would never off myself with pills. If I had to do it, I would do it the way that everyone else would do it—by hitting myself with pots and pans."
7. Bill Cosby
Poor Bill Cosby. Hardly a month goes by without somebody on the Internet declaring him dead. One such instance occurred on February 5, 2010, prompting the comedian to respond as follows on his personal blog:
"And now ladies and gentlemen for my rebuttal: As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal. Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttaling and went into denial. My wife has just informed me that there is no such word as rebuttaling, she says the word is rebutting. But I don’t care, because I’m alive! Thank you. PS. That’s another thing dead people don’t say."
8. Russell Crowe
We learned via fake news generator that actor Russell Crowe supposedly died while making a film in Austria on June 10, 2010. Rather than fight it, Crowe took the unusual step of confirming his own death via Twitter:
"Unable to answer tweets fell off a mountain in Austria, all over red rover. Don't know how i got there, but the media are never wrong. G'Bye."
On September 13, 2011 the Twitterverse erupted with rumors — false rumors, naturally — that comedienne Joan Rivers had died. When contacted by Huffington Post for a statement, she replied with characteristic bluntness:
"I don't know where this came from. I did very well performing this weekend in Ottawa and I didn't even bomb on stage. I think this story came from Betty White — that bitch!"
On May 4, 2011, like other celebrities before him (see Jeff Goldblum), professional wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson supposedly died after falling off a cliff in New Zealand. He didn't take kindly to the news. This is what he tweeted that same day:
"I would love to meet the person who is starting rumors of my death — to show them how a dead foot feels up their ass."
You may also enjoy:
• STILL Not Dead: Adam Sandler
• Mr. Rogers, Navy SEAL?
• Was Tom Hanks' Father Lead Singer of The Diamonds?
• Is Megan Fox a Man?
• Did Jennifer Lopez Insure Her Butt?
• Richard Gere and the Gerbil
The Internet declared Hugh Hefner dead of a heart attack on July 11, 2011. No one was more surprised by the "news" of his passing than the (then) 85-year-old Playboy magazine founder himself, who responded with a series of tweets confirming he was alive and well, including:
"I'm happy to see how many people are pleased that I'm not dead. I'm pleased too."
2. Usher
R&B singer Usher received the fake news generator treatment on April 10, 2012, inspiring him to tweet a shirtless photo of himself with a caption reading:
"I must've died and went to heaven... Alive and cold kickin ass!!"
3. Jon Bon Jovi
After a flurry of fake news reports and vandalized Wikipedia entries declared him dead on December 19, 2011, Jon Bon Jovi took to his band's Facebook page and provided the clearest proof possible that the reports were false — a photo of himself holding a hand-lettered sign which read:
"Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey, Dec. 19th, 2011, 6:00"
4. Jeff Goldblum
The Twitterverse went crazy on June 25, 2009 after a prankster created a false online report claiming that actor Jeff Goldblum had fallen from a cliff to his death in New Zealand. A few days later, Goldblum went on Comedy Central to pretend-interrupt Stephen Colbert's pretend-coverage of the accident, protesting that he was not, in fact, dead:
"I'm so sorry to interrupt, my friend Stephen, but look, I'm not dead. In fact, last week I was not even in New Zealand!"
When Colbert informed Goldblum that New Zealand police had confirmed he was dead, the actor gave in and delivered his own eulogy:
"No one will miss Jeff Goldblum more than me. He was not only a friend and a mentor, but he was also... me."
5. Morgan Freeman
Actor Morgan Freeman has been a constant target of death hoaxes ever since late 2010, when a bogus retweet of a nonexistent CNN story claimed he had passed away in his Burbank home. The rumor-mongering reached a fever pitch in September 2012 after pranksters launched a Facebook page titled "RIP Morgan Freeman." Freeman fought back by posting the following words alongside a photo of himself on his Facebook page:
"Like Mark Twain, I keep reading that I have died. I hope those stories are not true... But if they are, I'm happy to report that my afterlife seems identical to my life when I was alive. I did go to Las Vegas to begin work on the film 'Last Vegas.' That is anything but a death sentence. -Morgan"
6. Zach Braff
Two years after Scrubs star Zach Braff was declared dead in a fake CNN article that few people ever saw, someone happened upon it and unleashed the story on Twitter. "Zach Braff is dead" hysteria reached critical mass on October 12, 2009, prompting the actor to post a rebuttal video on YouTube. Here's an excerpt:
"I'm alive. I'm here at Scrubs shooting the new Scrubs title sequence which is a little bit like dying, so I guess that was semi-accurate. Also, I would never off myself with pills. If I had to do it, I would do it the way that everyone else would do it—by hitting myself with pots and pans."
7. Bill Cosby
Poor Bill Cosby. Hardly a month goes by without somebody on the Internet declaring him dead. One such instance occurred on February 5, 2010, prompting the comedian to respond as follows on his personal blog:
"And now ladies and gentlemen for my rebuttal: As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal. Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttaling and went into denial. My wife has just informed me that there is no such word as rebuttaling, she says the word is rebutting. But I don’t care, because I’m alive! Thank you. PS. That’s another thing dead people don’t say."
8. Russell Crowe
We learned via fake news generator that actor Russell Crowe supposedly died while making a film in Austria on June 10, 2010. Rather than fight it, Crowe took the unusual step of confirming his own death via Twitter:
"Unable to answer tweets fell off a mountain in Austria, all over red rover. Don't know how i got there, but the media are never wrong. G'Bye."
On September 13, 2011 the Twitterverse erupted with rumors — false rumors, naturally — that comedienne Joan Rivers had died. When contacted by Huffington Post for a statement, she replied with characteristic bluntness:
"I don't know where this came from. I did very well performing this weekend in Ottawa and I didn't even bomb on stage. I think this story came from Betty White — that bitch!"
On May 4, 2011, like other celebrities before him (see Jeff Goldblum), professional wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson supposedly died after falling off a cliff in New Zealand. He didn't take kindly to the news. This is what he tweeted that same day:
"I would love to meet the person who is starting rumors of my death — to show them how a dead foot feels up their ass."
You may also enjoy:
• STILL Not Dead: Adam Sandler
• Mr. Rogers, Navy SEAL?
• Was Tom Hanks' Father Lead Singer of The Diamonds?
• Is Megan Fox a Man?
• Did Jennifer Lopez Insure Her Butt?
• Richard Gere and the Gerbil
