Miley Cyrus is the latest celebrity to be the victim of an online death hoax. Only this time, Miley's "death" wasn't a misunderstanding, a false report or a hashtag gone wrong, but rather a Facebook scam "designed to lure people to click through and spread online surveys to make money," explains MTV Australia.
It all started Saturday, July 19, when this photo of Miley supposedly overdosing made the rounds with the alarming headline: "{SHOCKING} Miley Cyrus Found Dead In Her Los Angeles Home!"
In case it looks familiar, the photo is from Miley Cyrus' music video for "Blonde SuperFreak Steals the Magic Brain" with the Flaming Lips and Moby, which was released earlier this month.
The intention, of course, was to get the singer's many fans concerned enough to click through for details. As mentioned, clicking through made money for the scammers who spread the false rumor.
Contributing factors such as Miley's hospitalization last April for a severe allergic reaction, as well as her relative absence from social media (she hasn't tweeted or posted on Instagram in a few days), further fueled the speculation.
Hollywood Life supposedly got in touch with one of Miley's close friends, who said the pop star "is aware of the death hoax and thought it was actually pretty funny. By not responding, she thinks it is that much more of a joke because people are continuing to believe it."
The Huffington Post has reached out to Miley's reps for comment and will update this story once one comes through.
Sadly, Miley is hardly the first celebrity to be "killed off" by the Internet. Last March, "Seinfeld" star Wayne Knight was pronounced "dead" following a car accident. The actor quickly took to Twitter to diffuse the claims. In April, the hashtag #RIPJenniferLopez began trending on Twitter. Clearly, Lopez is alive and well to this day.
For whatever weird reason the Internet likes to kill off its favorite stars, those three are in good company:
