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Tupac Is Alive!

Circulating via email, hoax Web page purports to be a CNN report revealing that murdered rapper Tupac Shakur is still alive and strolling the streets of Beverly Hills

Description: Web hoax
Circulating since: April 1, 2005
Status: False


Email example contributed by L. Davis, 5 April 2005:

Rap star Tupac Shakur appeared yesterday in Beverly Hills and casually strolled through the streets as if the rest of the world had forgotten his 'murder' nearly nine years ago
Read Full Text


Comments: Notwithstanding its apparent confirmation of online conspiracy theories surrounding the death of hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur in 1996, this so-called "news item" is bogus. Notwithstanding the fact that it was painstakingly crafted to look like a page belonging on CNN's website, CNN.com published no such story. It was, in fact, an April Fools' prank, and even says so in the fine print at the bottom of the page (see detail below): "You just got April Fooled! Tupac's dead. Get over it."

The fabricated CNN page was originally hosted at www.cnnonline.co.nr/tupac.htm but the domain name was suspended without warning, probably due to legal threats from CNN (the suffix ".nr" stands for the Republic of Nauru, an island in the Pacific measuring 8.1 square miles). It was mirrored for a time on www.benderboyz.com, but when last I checked the site was unavailable due to "maintenance downtime or capacity problems."

The hoax (read full text) takes a satirical swipe at rumors circulating ever since Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996 to the effect that Shakur had actually faked his own murder and is still alive.


Tupac is alive! (Or so it seems until you read the fine print.)
DETAIL: Hoax is revealed in fine print
at the bottom of the Web page
Though police attributed the killing to gang hostilities involving members of the rapper's entourage, the case was never officially solved, leaving ample room for speculation. Some claimed to find clues in his music pointing to a faked death and predicted he would surface again after seven years, but September 2003 came and went without a sign of Tupac Shakur's "resurrection."


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Last updated: 04/06/05


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