Like many before him and still many more to come, Playboy Hugh Hefner was recently killed – by the Internet.
Over the weekend, an article appeared on the site nbctoday.co claiming that Hefner had died of natural causes at the Playboy Mansion on Sunday morning. The article spread like wildfire across social media, amassing hundreds of thousands of Facebook shares and thousands of retweets.
The only problem with the article is that it’s completely false – the latest in a long line of fake news sites peddling made-up stories. Or, as some would call it, “satire”.
Hef is alive and well. In fact, Sunday night was movie night at the mansion.
Movie night with the family pic.twitter.com/65QaTvJDNL
— Crystal Hefner (@crystalhefner) December 29, 2014
Tonight's Mansion movie is "American Sniper."
— Hugh Hefner (@hughhefner) December 29, 2014
If you needed more confirmation that Mr. Hefner is alive and well, he just retweeted this acknowledgment of the hoax:
I Googled @hughhefner and it said he died but still made it to movie night. Lol. The internet is an odd place sometimes.
— Domineek Ellington (@thatdudedneek) December 29, 2014