His publicist is denying crazy web rumors the Law & Order: Criminal Intent star died in New Zealand today. Sounds like the next plot (combined with the circumstances of David Carradine’s death) for the NYPD major crimes series. But I’ve since learned that, every coupla years, a rumor starts on the Internet about a celeb dying in New Zealand: Tom Hanks in 2006 and Tom Cruise in 2008. Egads.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.


I’ve heard on the news they’re getting a lot of flood of false emails about famous people dying today. I’d take news of celebrity deaths with a grain of salt until further notice.
Tom Cruise to Jeff Goldblum, Kauri Cliffs NZ Celebrity Death Hoax …
Jun 25, 2009 … It seems that the same celebrity death hoax circulated about Tom Cruise in 2008 while he was in New Zealand. Tom Cruise is alive and well …
http://www.nowpublic.com/…/tom-cruise-jeff-goldblum-kauri-cliffs-nz-celebrity-death-hoax
Similar celebrity death hoax | Defamer Australia
Hoax. So everyone is clear, here are a few other celebrities who are unlikely to have fallen to their death whilst mountain climbing in New Zealand. …
http://www.defamer.com.au/tags/celebrity-death-hoax/
snopes.com: ‘Actor Killed in Fall from Cliff’ Death Hoax
Nov 16, 2006 … Actor – Tom Hanks Falls To His Death In New Zealand … on a film in New Zealand) is yet another Internet-spread celebrity death hoax.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/tomhanks.asp
Apparently there have been death rumors surrounding Goldblum since 1999.
Last night I went to see the Wiz in NYC and the rumor about Jeff Goldblum started during the intermission. everyone was getting on their cell phones searching & contacting people
Yeah, it seemed a little too perfect. First the King of Pop dies, then the King of Weasel.
From my understanding, it started as an experiment on Twitter, post Michael Jackson’s death. They were trying to see how much traction a factually sparse comment could get when everyone was already reacting to a shocking event.
The answer: pretty far.
Australia is not New Zealand — close but no dingo — but actor Patrick MacNee used to tell this one re such rumors:
“An actor called Patrick Magee died a few years back. I was in Australia at the time. They announced on U.S. TV that Patrick Magee, star of ‘The Avengers,’ had died. So they rang up my daughter in Palm Springs: ‘Sorry to hear that your father’s dead.’ She said, ‘But I was talking to him 12 minutes ago in Australia.’ They said, ‘No, he’s dead, it’s just the time difference.’”
Oh, just another Twumor on Twitter…
Now, that–THAT’S chaos theory.
Thank Vice magazine for having had a big hand in it — they reported it as fact yesterday, linking to a fake news blog that in the fine print at the bottom of the page admitted that the page was a fake, made from a “user-generated template.” I said something about it in the comments section there, but they erased it because they thought it was such a hilarious joke … which speaks for itself.
Oh, just another Twumor on Twitter…
Twitterers don’t know twat.
Newsflash:
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
George Clooney was also rumored to be dead today. Happily George is still with us.
The bad news is that he wants to make Ocean’s 14.
From now on just assume nobody famous has died until you see it reported on TMZ