Lavigne was rumoured to have died over the weekend whilst on an Alpine break. Confusion arose after the 'news' coincided with a real incident in which her boyfriend, Brody Jenner, was injured in a surfing accident at the same time.
The singer joins the ranks of Owen Wilson, Charlie Sheen, Adam Sandler, Aaron Carter and Eddie Murphy who have been killed off in cyber space, with all the reports claiming they had tragically died in snowboarding accidents.
The trend involves fake death announcements being posted on the website Global Associated News which are picked up by social networking sites and circulated around the world.
Hoax news about Avril Lavigne's death circulates on the Internet
Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne is the first celebrity to have a fake news article written about her in 2011 when a news story spread through the Internet saying that she had died over the weekend while celebrating the New Year.
For the record, Avril Lavigne is very much alive and well. According to the Independent News, the fake news article about Lavigne's death was generated by Global Associated News--a celebrity prank site popular for inciting online riots over fake news.
Below is the actual content of the fake news article that circulated about Lavigne's death generated by Global Associated News:
Musician Avril Lavigne is reported to have died shortly after a snowboard accident earlier today - January 4, 2011.
The singer/songwriter & novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort located 125 km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada with family and friends. Witnesses indicate that Avril Lavigne lost control of her snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.
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Avril Lavigne was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the musician died instantly from the impact of the crash. She was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played any part in her death.
Additional details and information will be updated as it becomes available. This story is still developing.
About Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort - located 125 km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America; it is 50% larger than its nearest competitor in terms of size, has the greatest uphill lift capacity, and until 2009, had the highest vertical skiable distance by a wide margin. The resort expanded extensively in the 1980s and 90s, becoming the centrepiece of a renewed bid on the part of nearby Vancouver.
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Vancouver/Whistler was selected as the winning bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics in July 2003. Whistler Blackcomb hosted the alpine skiing events, including the men's and women's Olympic and Paralympic alpine skiing disciplines of downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, super combined and slalom.
A picture was also included in the news of rescuers putting a victim into a helicopter, adding to the seemingly realistic touch. The article also has a Tweetmeme retweet button--just like in the case of legitimate news articles--allowing readers to spread the article over the Internet in their blogs, Facebook accounts, and the like. Some websites have also posted the said news article as well, although many have placed an update stating that the previous report was false.
However, it was the tweet from Lavigne's boyfriend last weekend that brought some form of credibility to the news regarding the supposed death of the Canadian singer.
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