Comic actor Jack Black is the latest to fall victim to the ‘death hoax’ – an event so common that we recognise it as soon as it appears. A tweet announcing the Ghostbusters actor’s ‘passing’ showed up on the twitter account of his band, Tenacious D. A second tweet with ‘#RIPJackBlack’ was posted soon after; followed by details of the supposed death.
For Black, who has been ‘killed off’ at least twice before, it meant easy publicity. The actor and his band were trending on social media for hours. For a band with little name recognition, this proved to be an unexpected boon .
As social media was flooded with reports of Black’s passing, his people were quick to issue a stern denial.
WE had our Twitter account hacked. We can assure you that Jack is ALIVE and WELL and that this was a sick “prank”.
— Tenacious D (@RealTenaciousD) June 5, 2016
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
It is believed that the prank was the work of a hacker with the Twitter handle @Ruthless. Black’s fans turned on the hacker, calling his actions ‘sick’ and ‘ruthless’. Shortly after, the hacker’s account was suspended and all his tweets deleted.
Image Courtesy : Getty
