The Top 8 Celebrities Killed by the Internet By Ivana Wynn  [12 more lists]

Announcement of Death:
The day after Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett died (June 26, 2009), rumors of Jeff Goldblum's passing started to appear online. A news story generated by FakeAWish.com reported (under the fake news outlet "Global Associated Press") that Goldblum had fallen from the Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand while on the set of a movie. The Australia Today Show reported on the potential truth of the story and mourned him, calling him a "good bloke."

If this story sounds familiar to you, that’s because the same exact rumor was circulated about Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and a plethora of other actors, most of which were started by the FakeAWish.com team.

Jeff Still Alive:
Goldblum appeared on The Colbert Report several days later to deliver his own obituary and relish his own compliments of having had "Brando's muscularity" and a "verbatim" quote from a former conquest that described sex with him "like being caught in a flesh storm with a 90% chance of satisfaction."

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Announcement of Death:
On March 29, 2011, a week and a half after Nate Dogg's death and a few days before April Fools’ Day, a hoax web page designed to look like a TV news site claimed Jackie Chan had die
d of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital as the result of his stressful schedule promoting Kung Fu Panda 2. ""RIP Jackie Chan"" became one of the most popular Tweets that day.

The "news" story quoted Will Smith as having said on Facebook, ""A remarkable actor, he will be forever missed and always in our hearts. RIP Jackie"". President Obama was reported as saying ""Jackie Chan is a man who can talk through talent, he is a constant reminder of the strength of humanity. He will forever be in our hearts, a true inspiration who inspired many generations. First it's Nate Dogg then it's Jackie Chan.""

According to the story, MTV would host a special memorial service for Chan.

Jackie Still Alive:

Photos were posted on Chan's official website showing him with the Consul-General of Japan, Yuji Kumamaru, whom he had met to discuss the details of an event ""Love Without Borders 3/11 Candlelight Gala"" which was scheduled for April 1st in Hong Kong and would benefit the victims of the Japan earthquake on March 11th.

Announcement of Death:
Britney Spears was one of the earliest celebrity "victims" of the Internet and has been one of the most frequent. On June 12, 2001, a radio station in Dallas (KEGL 97.1) reported that Spears had died in a car crash with a pretzel van while driving with Justin Timberlake.

Fans desperately sought confirmation of the pop star's death on internet message boards and by the next day, the news had been forwarded around the world via email. A fake BBC web page offered more details about the crash while fans called into L.A. fire and police departments for answers.

Britney Still Alive:
The Dallas radio station responsible for the rumor finally apologized several days later, stating that the two DJs had aired an erroneous report. They were subsequently fired. Spears' publicist issued a statement saying "There is no truth to the rumor circulating around the world that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were involved in a car accident on Tuesday."

Four months later, a hacker from Michigan, Tim Fries, reported the exact same story and received 120,000 hits within 12 hours. He claimed to have published the "story" in the name of "research."

Announcement of Death:
On December 28, 2010, FakeAWish.com (oh, you jokesters) released a story about Adam Sandler that had been tied to Charlie Sheen's fake death not even two days prior. According to the source, while snowboarding in Zermatt, Switzerland "Sandler lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed…Sandler was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the actor died instantly from the impact of the crash."

The exact same scenario was used for Jim Carrey's fake death at the beginning of March 2011, which forced his publicist to confirm to the media that he was still alive. A week later, the same story that had appeared in December about Adam Sandler's death resurfaced and duped everyone again.

Adam Still Alive:
You'd think that by now that people would have wised up to the repetitive rumors, but sadly, this wasn't the case. Sandler appeared on Jay Leno to promote Just Go With It and to state that when he does die "it will be in America, and it won't be on a snowboard; it will either be on a toilet or hanging from a belt, naked".

Announcement of Death:
Miley Cyrus has terrible luck with the internet and should probably just stay away from it permanently. In September 2008, a news story was posted on Yahoo! saying that Cyrus had died in a car accident.

A month later, a hacker posted a video on the "Miley and Mandy Show" YouTube account, claiming to be from Mandy Jiroux, and stating that Cyrus had died after being hit by a drunk driver. Fans who saw the YouTube video were devastated, one even remarking that "Today was so bad, I saw that video and I actually thought that Miley had died. I couldn't even breathe, it was horrible!!! I would not be able to live without Miley. She is my role model."

Miley Still Alive:
After the first incident, Cyrus' appearance at her concert in New York disproved the hoax. The second time around, Jiroux posted on her Myspace that Cyrus was okay.

But, here's a picture of the news story on Yahoo! News: