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:

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Comments: Notwithstanding its apparent confirmation of online conspiracy theories surrounding hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur's death in 1996, this "news item" is false. Notwithstanding the fact that it was painstakingly crafted to look like a CNN story, it was never published

Detail: Hoax is revealed in fine print at the bottom of the page

on CNN.com. It was, in fact, an April Fools' prank, and even says so in the fine print at the bottom of the page (see detail at right): "You just got April Fooled! Tupac's dead. Get over it."

The fabricated CNN Web page was originally hosted at www.cnnonline.co.nr/tupac.htm but the domain name was quickly suspended, 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 the site was unavailable due to "maintenance downtime or capacity problems" when last I checked.

The hoax, still circulating via email, 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. 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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