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Celebrity Death Hoaxes 2010

Celebrity Death Hoaxes 2010 - For some reason celebrity death hoaxes seem to be a common occurrence on the Internet. The news spreads like wildfire and the fake death notice often ends up at the top of trending indexes. The most recent deception reported was the death of actor Morgan Freeman this past week.

With the frequency of these hoaxes and with their ability to generate so much attention for the celebrity in question, one can’t help wonder if these inaccurate reports are actually misguided attempts at publicity. Then again, because of their frequency they have such a distinct “boy who cried wolf” quality that fans should be hard pressed to believe that their beloved public personality has actually departed this life.

Celebrity Death Hoaxes 2010

One has to wonder what kind of person has nothing better to do than to prank call someone (as in the case of Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot earlier this year) and leave a message pretending to be a family member of the alleged deceased to add legitimacy to the allegation. Then again, one would also have to wonder why someone who received such a message wouldn’t make a phone call to the family in question to confirm the death before telling their spouse and letting her spread around the news via email to other friends.

There have been a number of celebrity death hoaxes in 2010 according to the LA Times including Taylor Lautner, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Bill Cosby, Russell Crowe, and Will Smith. What makes famous people the target of such ridiculous pranks? The news of a celebrity’s death can generate thousands of page views before the hoax is determined and perhaps page views (and therefore attention) are the goal of the prankster, but if pranks are meant to be funny, what exactly about someone dying is cause for a good laugh?

Celebrity Death Hoaxes 2010
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