A rumour that UK singer Rick Astley has died is the latest celebrity hoax to spread through the internet in the wake of Michael Jackson's shock death.
Twitter and other social networking sites were buzzing with reports of Astley's death this morning, forcing the singer to confirm on his official website that he was alive and well.
Celebrities Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Harrison Ford, Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Goldblum are among those declared dead through the internet in the wake of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett's death last week.
Spears was reported dead after her Twitter account was hacked over the weekend.
"Britney has passed today," one of the fake messages read.
"It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come."
The Astley hoax appears to have started when a fake press release was posted on CNN's iReport site, where readers upload newsworthy content.
According to the hoax report, Astley died in a hotel room in Berlin after paramedics were unable to revive him.
Responding to the rumour, Astley's manager Tops Henderson posted a statement on the singer's website saying: "I have just spoken with Rick, who is in Copenhagen preparing for his show on Friday evening at the Tivoli Gardens."
Social networking commentator Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology, told ninemsn internet hoaxes often came up after celebrity deaths because the timing made them appear more feasible.
"People have heard about some genuine cases where celebrities have died and it makes other shocking news seem somehow more credible," Dr Bruns said.
Internet hoaxes were a common follow-on effect from not just from celebrity deaths but any prominent news story, he said.
"You often see it after stories break about terrorist attacks, like the London bombings," Mr Bruns said.
"After the bombings there were people posting all kinds of things about another explosion going off here or there.
"In some cases people might have just heard a car backfire or something."
Hoaxes following celebrity deaths are not just new to the internet age.
According to the New York Times, the same thing happened when US President Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945.
The newspaper reported callers jamming the switchboards of media outlets with rumours about the death of Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and other famous celebrities of the time.
"People have been pretty effective at passing on rumours at time well before the rise of the internet," Mr Bruns said.
"If you think of the Kennedy assassination, there were all sorts of rumours on the day, not just afterwards, about what happened — who did it? Did they attack anyone else?
"We shouldn’t underestimate the effect of communications like the telephone and word-of-mouth.
"The internet has just sped up the process and amplified it."
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