Fact Check

Amy Roloff Is Not Dead, Despite 'Sad News' Death Hoax on Facebook and YouTube

An obscure Facebook page falsely claimed in a video that one of the stars of the reality TV show "Little People, Big World" had died.

Published Nov. 21, 2022

 (TLC (YouTube))
Image Via TLC (YouTube)
Claim:
Reality TV star Amy Roloff died in mid-November 2022.

On Nov. 19, 2022, the Facebook page Video Pivot posted a video with the caption, "With a heavy heart at the tearful farewell to 'Dwarf' Amy Roloff, goodbye Amy Roloff." However, Roloff was not dead, nor was there any indication she had just experienced a stroke, as the narrator in the video claimed. This was nothing more than a death hoax.

Roloff is one of the stars of the TLC reality TV series, "Little People, Big World," which has often been referred to by fans with the acronym, "LPBW."

The Facebook page that posted the death hoax was managed from Indonesia. Its purpose may have been "like-farming," something that the U.S. Better Business Bureau (BBB) has warned about in the past. If the page is able to build up a large following without being removed by the platform, it's possible that it will be sold on the black market in the future. It may also be stripped of its past posts and start promoting scammy products.

As for the misleading video about Roloff, the thumbnail was doctored to show her ex-husband, Matt, holding a picture of her next to men carrying a casket. As of Nov. 21, the video had been viewed more than 53,000 times.

Amy Roloff was not dead despite death hoax that said the star of Little People, Big World had died.

Note: It's unclear what the photograph originally showed, as a reverse image search for the men carrying the casket didn't find any matches for the picture.

Days earlier, a video was posted to YouTube that also falsely claimed Roloff had died. The video had the title, "10 minutes ago / We announce very sad news about 'dwarf' Amy Roloff, She has been confirmed as."

We found no shortage of these YouTube videos, either. Other examples of misleading YouTube videos from past months that we found were titled as "Official News/ R.I.P/ Amy Roloff Passed Away Last Night At The Hospital After A Health Battle," "Sad News Amy Roloff Is Pass Away Expected Soon Family Prepare To Say Goodbye," and "Sad News Amy Roloff Is Pass Away Expected Soon Family Prepare To Say Goodbye."

Amy Roloff was not dead despite death hoax that said the star of Little People, Big World had died.

One good way to check whether a celebrity has truly died is to check the person's verified presence on social media. While Roloff hasn't posted on her Facebook or Instagram pages since Nov. 18, we note again that the misleading YouTube videos we found were all published prior to that date. We found no credible reporting that said anything about Roloff recently experiencing a stroke or dying.

We previously published another story that debunked a death hoax for the Roloff couple's son, Zach. We also reported about misleading online ads that claimed the cast of "Little People, Big World" had experienced a "sudden loss."

Sources

"Amy Roloff." Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/amyroloffofficalpage/.

"---." Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/amyjroloff/.

BBB Tip: Like-Farming Is a Facebook Scam Still Going Strong. 10 June 2020, https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/17149-like-farming-a-facebook-scam-still-going-strong.

Grinberg, Emanuella. "Stars of 'Little People, Big World' File for Divorce." CNN.Com, 6 June 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/06/entertainment/matt-amy-roloff-little-people-big-world-split-feat/index.html.

Liles, Jordan. "'Little People, Big World' Posts About a 'Loss' Are Misleading." Snopes, 5 Jan. 2022, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/little-people-big-world-loss-death/.

---. "Zach Roloff Death Hoax: False Suicide Claims Came from Obscure Website." Snopes, 5 Jan. 2022, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zach-roloff-death-hoax/.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.