Mickey Rourke fell victim to the latest online hoax — celebs dying while snowboarding.
Facebook and Twitter lit up recently with shocking news the actor had died in a snowboarding accident. But, it turns out Rourke is still alive, according to his rep.
Rourke was rumored to have died in Switzerland this week according to an Internet hoax. The Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning actor is “very touched by the outpouring of concern and is alive and well in Beverly Hills” says his agent David Unger. Rourke just wrapped the second “Sin City” film with Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Rouke’s rep also told Page Six, “I have been getting condolence calls from all over the world. But I can confirm Mickey is not dead and is currently filming.”
Incidentally, Rourke had wrapped “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” and has just completed “Dead in Tombstone.”
Days before Rourke’s “death,” there were claims that Sylvester Stallone “died” in an unrelated and (also fake) snowboarding accident. Jim Carrey and Christian Slater also fake-died while “snowboarding” last year. If you haven’t checked already, they are all certainly alive.
So why the snowboard death hoaxing? Hat tip to NakedSecurity for digging up a practical joke Web site which allows anyone to generate fake news stories about anyone’s death. The link from the site gets shared via social media and presto – a completely tasteless fake story makes waves.