Tag: celebrity death hoaxes

Comedian Patrice O’Neal Dead Of Stroke Complications at 41

Comedian Patrice O’Neal dead at 41. No, sadly, this is not a another celebrity death hoax. Tragically, Patrice O’Neal died Tuesday morning from complications of a stroke he suffered last month. The comedian’s booking agent released a statement announcing O’Neal’s death a short time ago.

“It is with terrible sadness we must report that Patrice O’Neal has passed away this morning at 7:00am due to the complications of the stroke he suffered on October 19,” the statement said. “Many of us have lost a close and loved friend; all of us have lost a true comic genius. His mother, who was also his best friend, was at his side.

“Patrice is survived by his wife, Vondecarlo; his step daughter Aymilyon, sister Zinder, and his mother Georgia,” the statement continued. “The family wishes to thank all of the fans and friends who have expressed an outpouring of love and support for Patrice these past weeks. We ask that you please respect the family’s request for privacy at this difficult time.”

Patrice O’Neal appeared on The Comedy Central roast of Charlie Sheen and guest starred on such shows as The Office, Arrested Development, Chappelle’s Show and was a regular on The Opie & Anthony Radio Show on the Sirius radio network. Patrice O’Neal: Elephant in the Room,” the comedian’s first hour-long special, aired in February on Comedy Central.

O’Neal, who battled diabetes, suffered a stroke on October 19 as a result of the disease, but little was released about his condition afterwards.

Gregg Hughes, aka Opie from The Opie & Anthony Show, posted his sadness over O’Neal’s death on his Twitter feed. “Yes it’s true that our pal Patrice O’Neal has passed away. The funniest and best thinker i’ve ever known PERIOD. #devastated”.

Rapper Too Short Dead Rumors Not True… Again

Those rapper Too Short dead rumors are just not true dammit! Once again it seems yet another (pseudo) celebrity has been the victim of a Twitter death hoax rumor, oh joy. The rapper, whose real name is Todd Shaw and also goes by the name of Short Dawg, would like his fans to know he is alive and well despite rumors to the contrary.

The rumor of Too Short’s death by heart attack apparently began circulating on Twitter shortly after the (real) death of Heavy D went public. Too Short, known for his rap classics “I’m a Player” and “Life Is… Too Short”, took to his own Twitter feed once the rumors of his death went viral to reassure fans he had not kicked the bucket. “Thanks for the calls, texts, emails & tweets. Its good to know yall got love for me. Retweet it & facebook post it,” the rapper said. “I’m not dead, I”m just mackin.”

The rapper did seem just a bit tweaked about the rumor of his untimely demise, asking people to please: “Stop calling my phone. I’m not dead. Repeat, I’m not dead. Been in the lab working on my 19th album.” Well, perhaps he is irked because he was already previously rumored to have died during an earthquake in California in the 90’s, as he references in another Tweet.

“Are U serious? How did they say I died this time? And when did wikipedia & twitter become reliable news sources???” Too Short posted in disbelief.

If confirmation straight from the rapper’s mouth is not enough, various hip hop publications also confirmed Too Short is not dead. “Too Short is alive and well,” XXLMag.com Tweeted. “Kill the rumor, not him.”

Megan Fox Aborts Black Baby: 4Chan Strikes Again?

On Saturday night, another vicious celebrity rumor hit the Net claiming Jonah Hex star Megan Fox aborted a black baby. Earlier in the week, various sites and message boards flared up with a rumor that Justin Bieber has syphilis and/or had broken his neck in a terrible car accident. None of this crap is true, of course.

Megan Fox in TRANSFORMERS (Paramount)
Megan Fox in TRANSFORMERS (Paramount)

So how the hell do these crazy bits of gossip get started? Well, one of the parties to blame is the website 4Chan.org. These weirdos spend far too much of their time thinking up insane celebrity rumors and then working to spread them all over the Net.

One 4Chan’s goals is to get the rumor featured as the number one search term on Google, which then plants it in the number one spot on Google Trends. When that happens, pretty much every gossipy site on the Net will pick it up. Kind of like we’re doing right now.

Why? Because they are pretty much rabid attention whores. They like feeling ‘special’ by succeeding in manipulating powerhouses like Google. Every now and then, one of their rumors actually even gets reported as fact by the mainstream press. This makes them feel like their ‘tools’ are actually way, way larger than they really are.

The lesson to be learned here is that any rumor you hear could very well be fake. So when you see a rumor floating out on the Nets saying Russell Crowe is dead, for example, think twice before you start spreading it around. Because somewhere out there, probably at 4Chan.org, people are laughing wildly over their latest prank on unsuspecting Internet surfers.

Update: Although an anoymous poster on 4Chan.org claims they are responsible for the Megan Fox rumor (a claim a number of gossip-fueled sites support), several commenters here claims EbaumsWorld.com is actually to blame. We love it when these people are so desperate to inflate their own sense of self-importance they have to battle it out in snarky comments to make sure they get the credit!

>> Previously:  Justin Bieber Breaks Neck? Is It True?