Is actor/comedian Eddie Murphy dead? The Tower Heist star has yet again been the target of the celebrity death rumors claiming that he recently died in a snowboarding accident.
The hoax was once again started on Global Associated New, a front for the website Fake A Wish that allows users to post fake celebrity death news stories on the Internet for the fun of “punking mass media,” as their motto goes.
This is at least the second time some members of the media and Internet users fell for the fake reports that Murphy was killed while snowboarding.
“The actor and novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Zermatt ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland with family and friends,” the latest fake news report states. “Witnesses indicate that Eddie Murphy lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.”
Murphy has not been the first celeb to be “proclaimed dead” by the Global Associated News. Other actors such as Adam Sandler, Owen Wilson and many more have “died” at the hands of the prank.
The sites entrepreneur Rich Hoover is the face of Fake a Wish and is proud to be “killing” celebrities regularly.
“It started off as a practical joke machine seven years ago,” Hoover has been quoted as saying. “People can just plug in anybody’s name so then they’ll prank their friends.”
Hoover says he received letters and complaints from angry people who had been pranked by their friends but realized celebrities never complained.
Hoover then created Global Associated News to spread rumors about celebrities through the site to gain hits to his many entertainment websites.
Hoover has said his intentions are not to hurt anyone but the celebrities should take this as “free press.” His celebrity death hoax’s sometimes make headlining stories that allows celebrities, some of whom have not been talked about for awhile, to make a comeback and become popular again.
Twitter is becoming a commonplace for the death rumors to spread quickly and it seems like the fans are getting more upset by the false rumors than the celebrities.
Murphy, of course, is alive and well and is not taking this hoax seriously.
