Sarah Anne Smith of the Washington Post says that Will Smith is the latest celebrity victim of an Internet hoax. Will Smith is not dead, just the victim of a nasty rumor that you may have seen on the Internet this weekend.
The Village Voice reports that the latest celebrity death hoax started on FakeAWish.com, which allows users to create a news story using an actor's first and last name. After typing in "Will" and "Smith," a few options pop up, including the story, “Will Smith falls to his death in New Zealand." Twitter users helped spread the rumor using a link to an official-looking story from "Global Associated News" over the weekend.
Yet again, a celebrity hoax has gone viral. How lame is our society that people make up celebrity deaths and circulate them? Brace yourself — celebrities are real people, too, with families that might be hurt over these rumors. Smith is not chilling with Biggie and Tupac. The only celebrities who died this weekend were Jeff Conaway and Gil Scott-Heron. Folks need to be thankful that they are alive and stop wishing death on others.
Read more at the Washington Post.
In other news: Washington Post: VH1's 'Single Ladies' Is Embarrassing to the Gilded Hilt.