Vince Vaughn Dead? Death Hoax 2012 Newest Target
Vince Vaughn is not dead, but he is at the center of the latest internet death hoax circulating.
Just over a week after Morgan Freeman was said to be dead by fake internet rumors, Vaughn has now taken the spotlight.
"Global Associated News," a site infamous for printing celebrity death hoaxes, claimed that the actor was in a skiing accident and had died. However, at the bottom of their article, they stated that the story was indeed fabricated, according to the Examiner.
Before Freeman, Bill Cosby was killed off and Eddie Murphy was done the same three times this year alone. Other celebrities to suffer the same fate include Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Russell Brand.
Reese Witherspoon was stabbed to death and Eddie Murphy was killed while snowboarding in Switzerland, according to the hoaxes.
The reason to create these death hoaxes is for sites to attract buzz and raise their number of "clicks" or hits.
The Inquisitor reported "Five Ways To Spot A Fake Death Report," No. 1 being based on where the story originated from. Global Associated News has a "death hoax generator" that allows any user to type in a celebrity's name, pick a story and send out a death hoax report, according to the site.
They also reported that the "generator" only has six stories that it carries, so many of the reports claim the celebrities died the same way. Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey and Brand all had a fake death from a skiing accident. So a safe conclusion to make is if the report is coming from Associated News it is probably unreliable and fabricated.
At some points, celebrities have not come out to deny the reports that they are, in fact, not dead. Perhaps the reason is because many of the death hoax reports claim unbelievable ways of dying, which should also raise red flags for readers. Reba McEntire was said to have died after she fell off a cliff on a movie set. Something to note though: when was the last time McEntire was on a movie set or starred in a movie? And how likely would it be that an acclaimed country singer and television star would do shooting of any type on the top of a cliff. There are special effects used for that nowadays.
Stay tuned for the next death hoax scare to come our way.
