It's Johnny Depp, Not Johnny Dead

In today’s world, information travels faster then the speed of light. However, many times the accuracy of that information may come into question. Case in point, the “supposed” death of actor Johnny Depp launched Saturday. Apparently, several prank artists reported that the Pirates of the Caribbean star had died in a car crash on March 25, 2004 while others claimed he had been found dead in his home in France. The pranksters even went so far as to falsify photographs of car wreckage and a CNN website confirming the story. This in turn caused a number of “RIP Johnny Depp” tweets to Twitter from various fans.

Robin Baum, Depp’s representative, reported that the actor was alive and well, debunking the death claims much too many people’s relief. This is nothing new to him or Hollywood. In the last year alone, George Clooney, Zach Braff, Stephanie Meyer, Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, and Jeff Goldblum all were falsely reported dead.

Though it is currently unknown who started these rumors or where, it has been found that this whole hoax was to infect people with a Trojan virus and infiltrate their computers. By searching for news on Depp’s “death”, you would get led to the false CNN site which would eventually lead you to a video that required a specific version of the Video ActiveX codec. If you download and run the file, you’ve activated the Trojan virus. This just proves that while the internet is a goldmine of information, it’s a good idea to always double check where that information is coming from.