Request Media Kit

Rue McClanahan: Word of ‘Golden Girls’ Star’s Death Goes Viral Five Years After the Fact

Rue McClanahan, known best for her role as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, died five years ago, but word of her death has gone viral once again–leading many to believe the actress only pa...
Rue McClanahan: Word of ‘Golden Girls’ Star’s Death Goes Viral Five Years After the Fact
Written by Kimberly Ripley
  • Rue McClanahan, known best for her role as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, died five years ago, but word of her death has gone viral once again–leading many to believe the actress only passed in the last couple of days. A huge outpouring of grief, sadness, and shock is making the rounds.

    The same thing happened last year, too.

    Rue McClanahan died back on June 3, 2010. So why is word of her passing resurfacing now?

    The Washington Post tries to explain.

    They believe someone on Twitter–with a huge following–likely posted a message about it having been five-plus years since Rue McClanahan’s death. Others retweeted the message.

    People reading it didn’t necessarily read that Rue McClanahan died five years ago from complications she developed from a stroke. They simply concentrated on the fact that the Golden Girls actress had died, and issued their condolences.

    All it takes is a couple of posts by people with a huge following for something like this to go viral.

    “In an additional, interesting twist, many of the R.I.P. Blanche crowd also link to a CBS article about McClanahan’s death, dated to 2010. Unlike similar cases, when faulty datelines have caused celebrities to ‘re-die’ on Twitter, this seems like a instance of simple misreading: The date’s clearly marked at the top of the page, above the headline, but people fly right over it in their haste to read of Rue,” the Washington Post reports.

    Have you seen tweets, Facebook posts, and other mentions of Rue McClanahan’s death on social media both yesterday and/or today?

    Did you realize she had passed away more than five years ago, or are you among those who added a ‘R.I.P.’ message to word of Rue McClanahan’s death?

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit