Faster than a speeding tweet, reports of film icon Clint Eastwood's death have circled the globe in less time than it takes to say, "Go ahead. Make my day".
And almost as quickly, those Eastwood fans clued up enough not to be fooled by what was obviously a hoax took to social media to express their disgust and disdain. "Whoever started the Clint Eastwood death hoax should be punished to death," said @Jordan16Bailey.
Meanwhile @ithinkibrokeit offered perhaps the most conclusive proof that the 87-year-old filmmaker was still alive, saying, "Everyone knows Death is too afraid to claim Clint".
Others, initially taken in by the hoax, were dismayed at the lengths the perpetrators went to. "Who pens a fake story for a supposedly real news site, with fake celebrity memorial Tweets?" bemoaned @MrMikeDevlin.
While it's not known for certain where the hoax started, the website www.cnn-globalnews.com is a possible contender, having posted the story Mike Devlin was probably taken in by. Read more at Stuff.co.nz.
Because they're in the public eye, celebrities are subject to being the eye of many jokes, and on the Internet, it seems the best way to knock 'em dead is to ... well, claim that they're dead.
Among the most famous celebrity death hoaxes, favorites include Bill Cosby, Margaret Thatcher, Barack Obama, Britney Spears, Sean Connery, Eddie Murphy and Morgan Freeman, among many others. Explore Biography.com's collection of Celebrity Death Hoaxes.