Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Good news, everyone! Owen Wilson is not dead.
“Absolutely false. I just spoke with him,” said the actor’s rep, after a flurry of panicked posts made the rounds on Twitter this afternoon.
The hoax is just the latest in false celebrity death claims, which also recently killed off Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, and Morgan Freeman. The Owen Wilson confusion got going with a news report from the dubiously titled Global Associated News, which claimed that Wilson had snowboarded into a tree and died in Zermatt, Switzerland. It then quickly got picked up and passed around. (Oh, the tricky dark side of social networking!) But it was easy to see this one was a hoax: If you click on the “Home” section of the article, you are directed to a site called Fake a Wish, which allows one to “enter a celebrity name to create a list of fake articles about them.” Sigh. It’s a slow news week and all, but can’t we please just quit with the fake celebrity death reports?
What do you think, PopWatchers? Any other celebrities not dead today?
What a weird hoax to start.
I have an idea Sara. Why don’t “reputed” news outlets (EW would like to be included on that list I’m sure) stop using Twitter, Facebook, Bloggers, or the internet in general as source material for your “stories.”
If I can tweet something erroneous or completely fabricated and see it pop up on your website (or in some other news outlets feed) then something in your profession is seriously awry.
How bout some honest to goodness research, before you go a-posting.
Chillax Chenzo
Chenzo, don’t listen to Anna. You are spot on correct.
AMEN, Chenzo!
Why don’t “reputed” news outlets (EW would like to be included on that list I’m sure) stop using Twitter, Facebook, Bloggers, or the internet in general as source material for your “stories.”
Great idea! Good luck with it though.
Why? Because they want as many hits for their advertisers as they can get, and tweets et al get hits. The fact that their reputation for being “reputable” is in danger is secondary.
Chenzo, Did EW report he died? No. I’m sure if they were going to, they would have done the necessary research to confirm that it was true, if that was in fact the case. They are simply reporting the hoax, assuring fans that the rumor wasn’t true. Nowhere in that article did it say that reputable news organizations were using twitter as a source. Has that happened in the past? Sure. And there is plenty of stuff in the news world to rail against (although an entire abandonment of internet sourcing is a bit rash, no?). This report, however, is not one of them.
Himself y the f***would somebody say that maaan!!!!!!!
Wasn’t there another celebrity Twitter death hoax this past week involving snowboarding ?
Funny though in most cases their careers are.
True , I have yet to see a Twitter death hoax involving an A-list newcomer whose star has not yet fallen .
At the very least Eddie Murphy could do a sequel to Trading Places
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead…
LOL. I’m old enough to get it.
Me too. Ah, the good ole days…
Me too, Mel!
Yes, he is valiantly holding on in his fight to remain dead.
me three! Yay!
in related news Chevy Chase is still alive..who knew?
Probably the people who watch him on Community
I was going to post it if somebody else hadn’t.
Well, if it were up to Owen Wilson, he’d be dead :/
One can hope………
Suicide is not something to joke about.
That was a BAD joke ….
It wasn’t really a joke.
Well, I knew right away that the news report was bs when it stated that no drugs and alcohol were involved…
Thank God,you guys get me scared.But now am happy,arrrh…what a relief
I heard that Miley Cyrus and Lindsey Lohan have hooked up after Lindsey escaped from Rehab and found Miley on the bong. They’re heading to Bolivia to get married. Yeah, start a rumor that makes sense – who cares if Eddie or Owen are dead.
Yeah….LOL
dis is gud. Am new nd i hav 2 say dat it saves us d dout.
Please, enough with the “I’m so cool” idiotic texting language.
I know the man has a busted up nose but that photo looks a little shopped to me. Has he always had a frenulum on his nose?
am praying he comes out to say something. Eddie cant die nw
Who so ever that is spreading this rumors are not good, these celebs have a life too, dey shld just stop with dem rumors
Is it tru that eddy murphy is dead? I had d rumor in 2go
I worry for your education…
Worry for the future.
I imagine the people who start interent rumours are really pathetic losers, with no social skills.
Pathetic Losers???? really what to you think about judgemental tyrants?
I don’t know what to you think?