Celebrity Deaths Hoax And The Internet

By Osagie Alonge

Every now and then, we get to hear through the internet that some celebrity or popular figure has died; then hours later learn that he or she is still alive and that it was probably a rumour. We breathe a sigh of relief and carry on like nothing has happened.

Most times it’s probably a sick joke started by some bored random person behind a PC, who feels like entertaining his/her self for a few hours. Yes, that’s what the internet has made of all us – mini ‘journalists’; We use our blogs and social network accounts – Facebook, Twitter etc as platforms to most times inform others of the happenings in our mind and/or around us. But sometimes, a few just want to be mischievous.

On January 29 2011, rumours got around that the very popular teen pop sensation Justin Beiber had died. The web went into a 3-hour frenzy, fans of the singer expressed their shock and grief over his purported death only to find out that it was a spoof website that had reported the news. Years before the late Michael Jackson’s demise in June 2009, the mega star had died a thousand deaths no thanks to the many ‘reporters’ online. So when he truly passed away, many brushed it aside as another rumour. The list goes on, you just name any popular personality – Jada Pinkett, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and most recently on the home front 2face Idibia…twice within two weeks. Fans of the pop singer were in emotional distress until the singer responded via Twitter ‘One love my pple!! I’m good o! GOD pass dem!’

Some hoaxes look more serious than others. Take for example the spoof CNN website that broke the news of Beyonce’s death in a seemingly ‘authoritative’ manner or the website that reported in detail the supposed 2face Jet Ski accident, or even TMZ.com reporting that US rapper Soulja Boy had bought a private jet only for his rep to debunk the news. Even a regular web surfer would fall for it.

The chain reaction is the most uncontrollable part. Once a rumour gets out, it’s passed on to the next person who passes it on to the next and when,  eventually, attempts are made to curtail the rumou, you find out that it’ll be too late as the news has already gone viral and will only take time for the truth to make its way round. Take for example, the recent death of veteran actor Sam Loco Efe; even hours after reputable news organisations had confirmed the actor’s death, star actress Genevieve Nnaji took to micro-blogging site Twitter to tell her 55,000 plus followers that he (Loco Efe) was still alive, this of course turned into a huge discourse and uncertainty of his death. Nnaji was supposedly misled by NTA which erroneously reported Efe was still alive.

The ugly part of the whole charade is when respected media houses publish or broadcast such news. On the night of Osama Bin Laden’s execution, Fox News boldly televised on their screen ‘OBAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD’ confusing Osama’s death with the US President Barrack Obama. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, that same night, a broadcaster also announced that Obama had died. On July 5, 2010 Fox News Politics Twitter account also tweeted the death of Obama. They later claimed that their account was hacked.

Similarly in Nigeria, SSS shutdown respected new TV station, Channels TV, for reporting the false death of President Yar’adua back in 2008. The first President of Nigeria Nnamdi Azikiwe also faced death rumours before he passed away in 1996. Most recent of politicians facing the burden of death hoaxes is Odumegwu Ojukwu.

There’s no stopping the awful trend. Spoof websites will always be created; people will always tweet and retweet and retweet. The good side is that it won’t last for long as the truth will eventually come to light. By the way have you googled to see if you are still alive?