Gabriel García Márquez is latest celebrity Twitter death hoax
Gabriel García Márquez died on Twitter on May 15, 2012. His announcement looked very official coming from an accounted connected to author Umberto Eco. His Tweets read, “I received the news now from New York. Writer Mario Vargas Llosa and Márquez’s family confirmed the news, which will be officially announced by the sister Aida and by publishers in few hours”. The publishers only announced that Márquez was happy, healthy and very much alive.
Yesterday famed Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez was the victim of a Twitter hoax announcing his death.
According to The Guardian, "Yesterday evening a Twitter account purporting to belong to the Italian author and academic Umberto Eco stated: 'Gabriel García Márquez dies. I received the news now from New York.' Writer Mario Vargas Llosa and Márquez's family confirmed the news, according to the account, which 'will be officially announced by the sister Aida and by publishers in few hours.'"
It was thankfully revealed that the Nobel Prize winning author was in fact alive. At first the rumor was denied by a Twitter user under the handle "El Gabo," according to the New York Daily News, which is a popular nickname for Márquez. This account has not been confirmed as official.
Jaime Abello Banfi, who runs the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Journalism, confirmed the death Tweet to be a hoax.
Márquez is not the first celebrity to be falsely killed off on the social media site, and he most certainly will not be the last. Check out a few of our favorite celebrities who met their Twitter grim reaper before their time.