Kanye West Isn't Dead

Screenshot of vandalized Wikipedia page

"Roc-A-Fella artist Kanye West died last night from injuries sustained in a car accident," said a news release posted on miscellaneous blogs and websites last night.

"West, who had gained fame producing for such rhyme all-stars as Jay-Z, Scarface and Mos Def," the report continued, "was critically injured shortly after leaving a recording studio at about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning (October 20th). Details about his condition were not released by the hospital until hours later."

A similar statement (since removed) was added to West's Wikipedia bio.

The phrase "RIP Kanye West" moved rapidly up the list of trending topics on Twitter, where it still sits at #1, as of this writing.

The truth, of course, is that Kanye West is NOT dead; there was no 3 a.m. car crash; and the whole thing was a fairly obvious and predictable Internet prank. The first debunk came in a midnight Tweet from West's girlfriend, Amber Rose:

"This RIPKanyeWest topic is not funny and its NOT TRUE!"

It may also harm your computer. According to antivirus software vendor Sophos, hackers are taking advantage of the high volume of searches related to the Kanye hoax to sucker users into visiting malware sites.

Read more about it:
• Kanye West Is Not Dead, Just Victim of Latest Internet Hoax
• Kanye West Has NOT Died in a Car Crash, but Hackers Still Exploit the Rumor