Ransom Riggs
Jeff Goldblum, on the Other Hand, is Not
by Ransom Riggs - June 26, 2009 - 12:06 PM

fly_2My wife and I were talking about all the high-profile celebrity deaths of late, when she mentioned one I somehow hadn’t heard about: Jeff Goldblum. “I just saw Jeff Goldblum on the Colbert Report,” I said. “What do you mean he’s dead?”
“Someone at work told me,” she said. “Google it.” Turns out that “Jeff Goldblum dead” is the third most popular search on Google right now — and it isn’t true. Fans of the Tall Guy can breathe easy: he’s just fine. But there’s a death report floating around the internet, which reads thusly:

Actor Jeff Goldblum died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning – June 26, 2009.

Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. Specific details are not yet available.

The accident occured at aproximatly 4:30 a.m. (UTC/GMT +12). Additional details and information will be forthcoming.

New Zealand, in recent years has grown in populariaty as a backdrop for Hollywood producers because of it’s scenic and rugged landscape.

Recent movies filmed in New Zealand include The Lord Of the Rings, King Kong, and The Chronicles Of Narnia.

The spelling mistakes should’ve been a tip-off. The report was generated by FakeAWish.com, a celebrity death report generator in which you enter a celebrity’s name and the way in which he or she has (supposedly) died, and you get a fake death report. For instance, here’s a news report I created about Mr. Ed’s death in a luxury yacht accident off St. Tropez.

There are other “fake news” sites, too. Here’s a bit of breaking news about how Jason English is frightened of sheep. We’re here for you, Jason. Also, did you hear that George Bush was arrested for indecent exposure?

Considering how easy these are to create and how ridiculous they are, I can’t believe anyone fell for the Jeff Goldblum hoax. Are celebrity deaths suddenly catching, like swine flu? Let us know in the comments about any other celebrity death hoaxes you may have heard about.

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Comments (20)

  1. Unfortunately, the typos would not have tipped me off. Some reporters are in such a hurry to be first to break the news, that they seem to put little effort into proofreading. Being a little OCD about it, it makes me crazy, and I end up proofing articles instead of reading them. I really need to get over it!

    posted by Hyacinth on 6-26-2009 at 12:21 pm

  2. yes, actually the spelling errors lent credibility to the report, as I find most news reports contain grammatical and spelling errors.

    posted by Minda on 6-26-2009 at 12:30 pm

  3. I agree, typing and punctuation mistakes do not necessarily mean it’s fake as proof-reading doesn’t seem to be a requirement for okaying something to be published anymore.

    posted by Sarah in CA on 6-26-2009 at 12:32 pm

  4. thats weird, i just finished reading an article on newsweek about goldblum… apparantly he is getting mixed reviews on law and order.

    posted by tiffany on 6-26-2009 at 1:00 pm

  5. I am crazy or was there a mentalfloss post on people believed to be dead, but are not? Maybe, I read it somewhere else.

    posted by Marty on 6-26-2009 at 1:02 pm

  6. there was one floating around a couple years ago that dave grohl from the foofighters and nirvana was dead…obviously, he’s not. and last year someone told me richard belzer from law & order: svu and homicide: life on the street was dead…he’s not dead either.

    posted by alison on 6-26-2009 at 1:43 pm

  7. He’s not dead, he’s watching you poop!

    posted by Colin on 6-26-2009 at 1:48 pm

  8. CNN actually had an article about the fake deaths too. Apparently there’s another fake floating around putting Harrison Ford on the yacht mentioned above.

    posted by Hastings on 6-26-2009 at 2:05 pm

  9. I heard, from multiple sources in very different locations, that George Clooney had died while rock climbing in Italy yesterday.

    It’s a little like the game of Telephone, isn’t it?

    posted by Megan on 6-26-2009 at 2:46 pm

  10. Sinbad is also popular with the recently deceased. His wikipedia article has on and off related his death, usually ending in \Funeral services will be held this week.\

    posted by wreck on 6-26-2009 at 3:55 pm

  11. When I heard the Goldblum story yesterday, I told my co-worker, “Man, the celebrities are dropping like flies.” Inadvertent pun.

    posted by Johnny Cat on 6-26-2009 at 4:35 pm

  12. I always heard that Mikey from the ceral box died from mixing soda and pop rocks. Turns out it’s not lethal…

    posted by Mark on 6-26-2009 at 5:33 pm

  13. Goldblum has joined a rather exclusive club.
    http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-celebrities-who-read-their-own-obituary.php

    posted by Miss Cellania on 6-26-2009 at 5:47 pm

  14. Stephanie Tanner from Full House was supposed to have died one yr. More credible if the rumour surfaced later during her drugging days.

    posted by J.Mo on 6-27-2009 at 6:25 am

  15. oooh. I swear that comedian Mitch Fatel had an obituary on the back page of US magazine once but I couldn’t find any sign of it months later when he appeared on Leno again (obviously not dead). I wrote to US and his web address but didn’t get a reply about his rumoured death.

    posted by J.Mo on 6-27-2009 at 6:29 am

  16. The same day as the Jeff Goldblum hoax there was also a Harrison Ford rumor. His also came from the fakeawish website and was the falling off a yacht rumor.

    posted by martha on 6-27-2009 at 11:35 pm

  17. I always thought Steve Miller was dead (like always…I thought he died in the 80s). Imagine my shock when I saw that the Steve Miller Band is coming to town next week.

    posted by Nathan R on 6-28-2009 at 12:39 am

  18. I like to spread the rumour that famous bender (and friend of the musically departed), Uri Geller has died… often explaining that he rubbed the back of his neck and his head fell off.

    posted by Adam_Y on 6-28-2009 at 3:56 pm

  19. One pseudo-celebrity who really did die, however, is Billy Mays.

    posted by Katherine on 6-28-2009 at 4:10 pm

  20. A few months ago when Robin Williams was in the hospital, I was at a hair salon and a couple girls there convinced all of us he’d died. I had to go home and check CNN; I figured they’d have said something. They didn’t. He’s fine.

    posted by Chelsea on 6-28-2009 at 9:24 pm

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