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A celebrity death hoax is a false report of the death of a living public figure. In recent years hoaxes of this type have been most widely perpetuated via the Internet. However they are not a new phenomenon; in 1945 following the death of Franklin Roosevelt there were hoax reports of the deaths of Charlie Chaplin and Frank Sinatra, among other celebrities of the time.. Possibly the most famous hoax of this type was the Paul_is_dead rumour concerning the former Beatle.
Hoaxes about the death of a celebrity increase in frequency when genuine major news events occur. With the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, hoax reports emerged concerning the deaths of Jeff Goldblum,