Before we begin here it’s important to note that deep in the bowels of social media’s muckpit exists accounts whose sole purpose is to churn out endless fake celebrity death posts. There’s no substance to them, they’re certainly not backed up by credible news sources, they’re just empty posts reading something like “Rest forever Jim Davis creator of Garfield, gone too soon, sleep well King! #RIPJimDavis.” Most of them pass without note. But occasionally, once in a blue moon, one of them sticks, and mild panic ensues. Case in point: Hayley Williams of Paramore fame has been forced to calmly explain that she is still very much alive, after word of her apparent untimely demise spread across Twitter.
[jwplayer 9asDoP8m]
For reasons we cannot quite fathom, an #RIPHayleyWilliams hashtag began circling various Twitter accounts at some point over the past few days, which was spurred on by posts like this one from an otherwise nondescript account.
she may be gone but she’ll always shine bright 🥺 #RIPhayleywilliams pic.twitter.com/hfUGhF7eqq
— jake (@forgiiveness) May 27, 2019
The amount of chatter about the rumour was enough for it to get Williams’ attention, who took to her own Twitter account with a clarifying post asserting that she is very much not dead. She also took the opportunity to pour water on a separate rumour claiming Paramore was in the studio right now recording a new album.
https://twitter.com/yelyahwilliams/status/1133021628567363584
So that clears that up, in case you were wondering.
Hayley Williams: Not dead.
Paramore: No new album.
Of course the only solace you can take from any of this is that it doesn’t come close to the high-water mark of false death rumours, which still rests with Richard Wilkins announcing that Jeff Goldblum had fallen off a cliff in New Zealand on The Today Show, which was in the middle of covering the very real death of Michael Jackson at the time.
The king stays the king.
