Eight funny responses to the strangest ever celebrity death hoaxes
Jeff Goldblum, Morgan Freeman and Hugh Hefner have all been victims of sick social media stunts
MANY celebrities have had to confirm they are alive and well after sick rumours circulated online that they had died.
Jaden Smith was the latest victim of this vile social media trend, with a video being uploaded to Facebook that claimed to feature him saying goodbye to his parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
The 18-year-old has decided not to comment on the rumours but has been spotted sitting front row at New York Fashion Week with his girlfriend Sarah Snyder.
However, some A-listers have decided to speak out against the cruel trolls – often with hilarious results. Here, we round up the eight funniest.
1. JEFF GOLDBLUM
In 2009 it was reported that Jeff Goldblum had died after falling from a cliff in New Zealand.
Fans of the 63-year-old Jurassic Park actor rushed to pay their condolences until it was discovered the news was all a sick joke.
Jeff seemed to laugh off the incident, saying: "No one will miss Jeff Goldblum more than me. He was not only a friend and a mentor, but he was also... me."
2. DWAYNE JOHNSON
You don’t mess with The Rock.
After it was mistakenly reported in 2011 that Dwayne Johnson had fallen off a mountain in New Zealand (there’s a trend here) the actor hit back.
The 44-year-old former WWE star took to Twitter and slammed the trolls, writing: "I would love to meet the person who is starting rumors of my death — to show them how a dead foot feels up their a**.”
3. JON BON JOVI
Fans of Jon Bon Jovi were left devastated after it was reported he had died of a cardiac arrest in 2011.
Thankfully the 54-year-old rock star was alive and well – and saw the funny side.
He posted a photograph online of himself holding a sign, which read: "Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey (where he lives)".
4. HUGH HEFNER
A fake website called “nbctoday.co” tricked thousands of people when they falsely reported that Hugh Hefner had died last year.
The story was shared more than 300,000 times on Facebook before the Playboy mogul spoke out.
He joked about the rumour by re-posting a fan’s comment on Twitter. It read: "I Googled @hughhefner and it said he died but still made it to movie night. Lol. The internet is an odd place sometimes."
5. MORGAN FREEMAN
Pranksters created a Facebook page called ‘RIP Morgan Freeman’ in 2012.
The 79-year-old Dark Knight actor decided to end the rumours by writing on his Facebook page: "Like Mark Twain, I keep reading that I have died. I hope those stories are not true...
"But if they are, I'm happy to report that my afterlife seems identical to my life when I was alive. I did go to Las Vegas to begin work on the film 'Last Vegas.' That is anything but a death sentence. – Morgan."
6. RUSSELL CROWE
An internet joker started a rumour in 2010 that Russell Crowe had died after falling off a mountain in Austria.
The 52-year-old Gladiator actor took to Twitter to deny the news: "Unable to answer the tweets, fell off a mountain in Austria, all over red rover. Don't know how I got there…"
7. MACAULAY CULKIN
It was falsely reported in 2014 that Macaulay Culkin had died in his New York City apartment.
The 36-year-old Home Alone star responded with humour after he and his band, The Pizza Underground, posted two staged photos that parodied 1989 comedy, Weekend At Bernie’s.
In the movie, two slackers keep the eponymous Bernie around for a few days of partying – even though Bernie was dead before the weekend started.
He later shared a selfie and wrote: “We’re on tour you silly people.”
8. ZACH BRAFF
In 2009 a fake CNN article claimed that Zach Braff had committed suicide.
The news went viral, but the 41-year-old TV star was found alive and well, filming his show Scrubs.
He posted a video online to reassure fans, which revealed: “I'm alive. I'm here at 'Scrubs' shooting the new 'Scrubs' title sequence which is a little bit like dying, so I guess that was semi-accurate.
“Also, I would never off myself with pills. If I had to do it, I would do it the way that everyone else would do it—by hitting myself with pots and pans."