14 DAY TRIAL // Miley Cyrus has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose at her Los Angeles apartment, or so a new Internet hoax started on Facebook would have you believe. As this rumor spread online, Miley did nothing to set the record straight, but she did have a good laugh at her own expense.
The pop star’s most recent tweet was sent out on Friday, after MTV announced the nominations for this year’s Video Music Awards show, where she also scored a few nods. Over the weekend, word got out (and spread like wildfire online) that she’d died and, when fans saw that she stopped tweeting, they understandably freaked out.
Many of the celebrities killed in Internet hoaxes who also happen to be active on social media usually take the time to clear the air and set fans at ease by acknowledging the rumor and explaining that it’s a fake. Not Miley though.
However, she was fully aware that people thought her dead, Hollywood Life claims. She even found the rumor terribly amusing, but she didn’t think to say something to stop the panic spreading online. As controversial as she is these days, Miley still has millions of loyal fans – and many of them were genuinely upset at the thought that she had perished.
“Miley is just laying low and hanging out with her new dog and just relaxing. She is aware of the death hoax and thought it was actually pretty funny. By not responding, she thinks it is that much more of a joke because people are continuing to believe it,” an inside source says for the aforementioned publication.
Obviously, she’s not thinking of the fans who must be crying their eyes out, mourning her.
“Miley is totally OK with people thinking she’s dead. She has mentioned to friends that this is her Paul [McCartney] is dead Beatles moment,” the spy continues. That is to say, Miley wants you to believe that she died and was replaced by a lookalike, as one, very popular conspiracy theory says about Paul McCartney.
Miley has a point in not engaging because there are rumors that only spread faster if the celebrities they’re about say anything to set the record straight. However, these Internet hoaxes aren’t like tabloid reports because, unlike in the case of the latter, the former usually affect the fans first of all.
Take this situation, for example: Miley might find the hoax amusing, but there are real people out there who are desperate because they don’t know what to believe, because the very thought that Miley might be dead is unbearable to them.
It’s her loyal fans we’re talking about, the people who buy her records and show tickets. Call us old-fashioned, but Miley owes them this much to not let them wallow in misery.