Fact Check

Celebrity Death Hoaxes

A listing of celebrity death hoaxes.

Published June 27, 2010

 (Kzenon / Shutterstock)
Image Via Kzenon / Shutterstock
Claim:
Celebrities on this list have died.

The following is a list of celebrities about whom death hoaxes have been propagated on the Internet. None of the individuals listed below is actually dead.


  • Sylvester Stallone

    At 68, Sylvester Stallone is alive and well and was not killed in a car accident in Australia.

  • Jackie Chan

    Jackie Chan is dead. At least that's what social media sites are saying. However the actor and martial artist didn't die. He's just the victim of an Internet death hoax. Jackie Chan is just fine.

  • Johnny Depp

    Suffice it to say, the rumors of Johnny Depp's death have been greatly exaggerated. Try to contain your surprise.

  • Morgan Freeman

    Morgan Freeman is the victim of a death hoax. Rumors of the actor’s alleged demise spread because of an “R.I.P. Morgan Freeman” Facebook page claiming he died on September 5.

  • Eminem

    Eminem is not dead. Eminem is battling a fake death report featuring a fictitious hospital. The story, moreover, erroneously claims to have been authored by a reporter from a cable news network. This is, however, not the first time that the rapper has battled fake death reports in the last three years.

  • John Cena

    “John Cena dead” in 2012 is the latest death hoax to hit Twitter in a week of copious celebrity death hoaxes, though it seems Cena is unusually prone to victimization in the fake-dead stakes.

  • Tony Danza

    Tony Danza, though believed to have fallen off a cliff in New Zealand to his death, is in fact alive and well.

  • Adam Sandler

    Rumors of 49-year-old Adam Sandler's death by suicide are totally false — just another morbid prank.

  • Tom Kenny

    Tom Kenny is not dead. Tom Kenny, the voice of “SpongeBob SquarePants”, and current voice of the Ice King on “Adventure Time with Finn and Jake”, is battling a fake death report.

  • Alfonso Ribeiro

    Fear not, "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" fans — Alfonso Ribeiro is not doing the Carlton dance in heaven. The actor, best known as Will Smith's dorky cousin on the '90s sitcom, is alive and well — and the latest victim of an Internet death hoax.

  • Eddie Murphy

    Eddie Murphy, who’s been falsely purported to be “dead” in multiple Internet death hoaxes, is the victim of yet another sick, wrong rumor.

  • Bill Nye

    Scientist and educator William Sanford Nye, a.k.a. "Bill Nye the Science Guy," spoke out against creationism in a YouTube video. Three days later, rumors of Nye's death became a trending topic on Twitter, which sparked a massive outpouring of support for the PBS children's show host.

  • Bill Cosby

    Bill Cosby, the comedian and educator, best known for "The Cosby Show" is dead, according to Twitter and Facebook. However, Cosby is just the victim of yet another social media death hoax. The 73-year-old is not dead. Cosby is alive and well.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.