Axl Rose Dead? Of Course Not — Tiresome Internet Death Hoax Plague Hits Guns N’ Roses Frontman
Axl Rose is not dead, despite internet reports to the contrary — but that should come as no surprise to fans who by now have surely grown tired of the seemingly endless stream of online hoaxes falsely reporting the death of just about every major celebrity, and plenty of minor celebs as well.
The Axl Rose death hoax started on a bogus site forged to look like a page on the MSNBC website. The authentic looking — at a cursory glance, anyway — story was headlined, “Sources: Guns N’ Roses Frontman Axl Rose Found Dead in West Hollywood Home at Age 52,” and claimed that the “Welcome To The Jungle” singer was found dead after police were called to check on the former rock star’s welfare.
Perhaps in a vain attempt to add an air of authenticity to the latest death hoax, the phony story on the ersatz MSNBC site claimed the death of Axl Rose remained “unconfirmed.”
“It’s fake, dude,” wrote the site Mediaite, in its story mocking the Axl Rose death hoax. “You can go ahead and confirm it.”
The site Gossip Cop, which specializes in debunking rumors about celebrities — dead or alive — was among the first to expose the fakery, which apparently fooled numerous internet users with its convincing-looking URL, “msnbc.website.”
“The awful hoax comes from the jerks behind the MSNBC.website URL, which has no affiliation with the real news outlet and tries to fool people into clicking on bogus stories,” reported Gossip Cop. “Enough people have been duped by this story to share it more than 39,000 times on social media like Facebook. Again, this is TOTALLY FAKE. MSNBC.website pulled the same trick last month with a death hoax about Macaulay Culkin. The phony Culkin story is almost identical to the phony Rose story. Don’t believe any report coming from MSNBC.website.”
In addition to Home Alone star Culkin, and today’s hogwash “Axl Rose is dead” prank, other celebrities victimized by death hoaxes recently have included “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan, ’80s “Brat Pack” actor Judd Nelson, and TV Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno.
While Axl Rose and his representatives have not confirmed that the “Paradise City” crooner is actually still living and breathing, but they probably don’t need to. But one thing is certain. Axl Rose may be the latest, but will certainly not be the last “dead” but-not-really celebrity to be the subject of a yet another tiresome online death hoax.
