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Gabourey Sidibe Not Dead: Death Hoax Reminds People Not To Believe Everything They Read

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 20:03 PST, Apr 4, 2016

Last week, a rumor spread that American Horror Story actress Gabourey Sidibe had died. The next day, she tweeted that she was very much alive, and it brought up a valid point of not believing everything read online.

The internet lies, and death hoaxes spread on a yearly basis. Sidibe is not the first actress to have one of these rumors involve her. British actor Rowan Atkinson regularly finds himself the center of a death hoax.

Reports last week suggested that the Empire actress had died from an asthma attack. Fans instantly took to Twitter in a panic to find out the truth. A story on Can’t Stop Hip Hop Worldwide gained some traction when fake news site The Daily Buzz spread the rumor, and it was picked up by mainstream media. Most journalists questioned the validity of the rumor and did their research before definitely stating that Sidibe had died at the age of 32.

The Daily Buzz has also said in the past that Donald Trump had been taken hostage by members of ISIS and that a five-year-old had told Beyonce that she admires her for pretending Jay-Z is good-looking. It is understandable why anyone would take anything with a pinch of salt when it comes to this website.

Sidibe took to Twitter after a large number of fans tweeted to her about her death. She jokingly said that maybe she was dead and currently in hell, where her version is full of people “believing poorly written articles” about her. The actress first joined American Horror Story in Season 3, where people were dragged into their own versions of hell, including having to dissect frogs over and over again and having to be the victim of torture for the rest of eternity.

Rumors spread online all the time. The internet makes these rumors spread quickly, and that often leads to people believing them. However, this latest celebrity death hoax reminds people they need to check their sources before they read anything. Many fans of celebrities are starting to learn to do some research before they instantly believe the “RIP” posts shared on social media.

Sidibe was able to joke about being the latest celebrity death hoax, but other celebrities have not taken it so light-heartedly. Chloe Grace Mortez was the center of a hoax in 2013 and quickly took to Twitter to share her anger and disappointment at the people who had made it up. She viewed the rumor as “disgusting,” because she ended up with family members calling her in a panic. Mortez had reportedly been killed in a snowboarding accident while she was vacationing in Switzerland. She hit back at the original death rumor, saying that it was not even snowing where she was, according to Bustle.

Back in 2012, Paul McCartney was also the victim of a celebrity death hoax. Fans believed it so much that “RIP Paul McCartney” started trending on Twitter, rather than people doing some research first.

Just because the internet says something does not mean that it is true. This is not just about celebrity death hoaxes either, which can lead to the celebrities getting panicked phone calls from loved ones. There are constantly rumors about new TV shows or movies, celebrity relationships, and other more light-hearted topics.

The internet makes it easy for people to do a little research before believing something. Believing celebrity deaths is understandable, but it is worth just going on Twitter or Instagram to find out when they last posted and to check the publication that originally shared the news. Gabourey Sibide has managed to take this as a joke, but other celebrities have not been as light-hearted about death hoaxes.

[Photo by Matt Winklemeyer/Getty Images]

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