Beyoncé Knowles Death Hoax

Claim:

Singer Beyoncé Knowles was killed in a car crash.

Rating:

False

About this rating

Example:   [Collected via Twitter, February 2015]

I swear #RIPBeyonce better not be true or the world will end.

— (@Its_Hopeeee) February 24, 2015

On 23 February 2015, a rumor started circulating via Twitter that singer Beyoncé Knowles had been killed in a car crash.

Unlike most celebrity death hoaxes, the rumor about Beyoncé was not tied to the publication of a fake news article. Instead, it appears that boredom and a few Internet trolls were responsible for this rumor's spread:

The Twitter account @CNNNewsFacts (which has no affiliation with CNN) then attached the #RIPBeyonce hashtag to a photograph in an effort to perpetuate the rumor that Beyoncé had passed away:

The above-displayed photo does not depict a car crash involving Beyoncé, although it does capture a celebrity fatal crash site: The image was widely circulated via Twitter shortly after the death of Fast and Furious star Paul Walker in 2013.