Cher Not Dead: Singer Becomes Latest Celebrity Death Hoax Victim

Is Cher dead or just the latest celebrity death hoax victim? The hashtag #RIP Cher became a trending topic on Twitter Thursday night and had many fans wondering whether the iconic singer had actually died.

Purportedly the rumor was started by Twitter user Lorraine_Star, who tweeted,

“RT @CNN: American recording artist Cher dies at 65 years old. Found dead in Malibu home.”

From there the rumor spread fast and even tricked a couple celebrities including reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who tweeted “Did I juist hear Cher has passed away? Is this real? OMG” to her 12,804,865 followers last night.

Though the “RIP Cher” tweets have spurred a variety of reactions which ranged from anger to tweets of concern and sadness, Cher fans can rest easy as the singer’s close friend, the jewellery designer Loree Rodkin, has set the record straight that Cher is alive and well:

“It’s a hoax. She’s fine,” Rodkin tweeted.

While the #RIP Cher topic is no longer listed on either the worldwide or United States top trends at the time of this writing, the tweets are still coming.

Cher’s death hoax is just the latest in a long list of A-listers that include names like Etta James, Jackie Chan, Hugh Hefner, Jim Carrey, Fred Savage, Britney Spears and several others.

Were you one of the ones tricked by the Cher death hoax? Do you think that spreading celebrity death rumors on Twitter is funny or just plain stupid?