Fake MSNBC Site Posts Hoax Story On The Death Of Guns N’ Roses Frontman Axl Rose

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose is not dead.

A fake story on a website created to look like MSNBC titled MSNBC Report posted a story on the death of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose. The story spread quickly, leaving hundreds of thousands of fans looking for answers, reports Blabbermouth.

The story was titled “Sources: Guns N’ Roses Front Man Axl Rose Found Dead in West Hollywood Home at Age 52.”

“Unconfirmed reports say Rose was found dead Tuesday late afternoon in his West Hollywood home after police were called around 3:30 pm for a welfare check. The home was entered by police through an open back door where a body was found in the foyer area,” the story read.

The website pulled a similar prank back in November, when it posted that Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame had passed away.

The rumors about Rose’s demise began to spread online on December 3. The website even posted a quote from a non-existent police spokesperson, reports Celebritydirtylaundry.com.

Rose had a sense of humor about the report, putting an end to the rumors by posting “If I’m dead, do I still have to pay taxes?” on Twitter. The official Guns N’ Roses Facebook page shared a photo of Rose from its ParadiseCity.com page captioning it, “Ha! They say I’m dead — again… Wait, what? WTF? It’s a hoax. Guys. Get a life at ParadiseCity.com.”

Rose is the only remaining original member of Guns N’ Roses still in the band’s lineup. The band has toured intermittently since 2006. It played its second Las Vegas residency earlier this year.

So many people were duped by the hoax that the story was shared more than 39,000 times across social networks.

Earlier his year, Rose said that Guns N’ Roses has two new albums in the works. The band’s last album, Chinese Democracy, was released in November of 2008. The album was censored in China due to its title track and reference to Falun Gong, which is a traditional Chinese spiritual practice that has been persecuted in China for the last 15 years.

“We recorded a lot of things before ‘Chinese’ was out,” Rose told Rolling Stone.

“We’ve worked more on some of those things and we’ve written a few new things. But basically, we have what I call kind of the second half of Chinese. That’s already recorded. And then we have a remix album made of the songs from Chinese. That’s been done for a while, too. But after Vegas [Guns N’ Roses is performing a residency at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that runs through June 7], we’re going to start looking very seriously at what we’re doing in that regard,” he added.

Breathe easy Guns N’ Roses fans, the stories of Axl Rose’s death have been greatly exaggerated!

[Image Via seattlepi.com]