The internet exploded early Sunday morning with fan girls mourning the death of the object of their celebrity fantasies, Johnny Depp. Only, Depp wasn’t dead. “RIP Johnny Depp” was at the top of Twitter’s list of trending topics, which did nothing to help squash the story.
The rumor stems from a website created to look like a CNN news article about a horrific car accident, complete with poor grammar, misspellings, and a photo of a gnarled SUV purported to be the actor’s.
A closer look at the story reveals a date of March 25, 2004. Amazing that he was dead for nearly six years before anyone knew. Even more extraordinary that he continued to make films in the six years since his tragic death. Boy, that Depp guy really is a fantastic actor!
But if the blatant crappiness of the writing, the 2004 date, and the laughable supposition that Depp drives a brown SUV escaped one’s eye, wouldn’t it be obvious that the URL of the “news story” originated from angelfire, a free web hosting company?
No, I guess that’s giving people far too much credit.
This is not the first time Depp has died. Three years after his deadly car accident, he suffered a fatal heart attack triggered by his smoking habit. In 2008 it was reported that Depp was found face down in his Manhattan apartment by a housekeeper. Apparently the person who started that rumor couldn’t even be bothered with creativity and reported the details of Heath Ledger’s untimely death as Depp’s demise. And just days ago “someone on the internet” heard that Depp had been found dead in his London home, not having researched enough to find that Depp lives in Paris.
Next time Johnny Depp dies, turn on your television. If no one is reporting it there, it’s just another internet hoax.
1 comments:
Excellent article regarding the complete whackadoodleness of the entire episode.
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