Helpful hint to Twitter users: Check it before you retweet it!
Thousands of you made rumormongers of yourselves on Monday by passing along the "news" that Aretha Franklin had died — which she hadn't.
It's true that the Queen of Soul has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and recently underwent surgery, but she's described as "recovering nicely" by close friend Rev. Jesse Jackson. And very much alive.
Bogus celebrity death reports are usually hoaxes — that is to say purposely false — though that apparently wasn't the case in this instance. E! Online speculates that whoever initiated the tweetstorm confused Ms. Franklin with Teena Marie, a white Motown singer who is often referred to as the "Ivory Queen of Soul," and who really did die last week.
Read more:
• Show R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin Not Dead
• Thinking of Aretha
• Profile: Aretha Franklin
• Profile: Teena Marie
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