The story of Depp’s death spread on the internet like wildfire, due in part to Twitter users tweeting ‘RIP Johnny Depp,” making the trending topic one of Twitter’s top-ten most posted hashtags over the weekend. What may have tipped off some detail-oriented Twitter users to the hoax was the source of the story, a false CNN news report from 2004 detailing the actor’s untimely passing following a booze-fueled crash.
That fake article caused a panic amid Depp’s more gullible fans when it was first passed around in the pre-Twitter age of 2004.

It seems in Hollywood, you’re nobody ’til somebody kills you. Notoriously media-shy actor Johnny Depp is alive and well, despite reports that he was fatally injured in a car accident this Saturday.

According to E! News, Depp’s rep has confirmed that the actor is still among the living.

“He isn’t dead,” Robin Baum said, flatly. “He’s fine.”

Not that he’s alone in falling victim to this pastime. Taylor Lautner, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, and others have been falsely reported dead lately.