Cher is not dead - latest celebrity Twitter death hoax

Music legend Cher is not dead, so rest easy. No need to try to turn back time.

Rumors got going Thursday night (Jan. 26) and into Friday morning, mostly on Twitter, where "RIP Cher" became a trending topic. The kerfuffle may have started with user Lorraine Star, who "retweeted" an obviously fake CNN tweet: "RT @CNN: American recording artist Cher dies at 65 years old. Found dead in Malibu home."

This Lorraine person calls herself a "Rihanna lookalike," so apparently she's fond of making up lots of untrue things on Twitter.

It may have also started with Obese School Girl, who tweeted, "lighting a vanilla candle for cher. RIP CHER."

Either way, the rumor spread fast enough to dupe a few other celebs. Kim Kardashian was tweeting, "Did I juist hear Cher has passed away? Is this real? OMG" and "I hope this is a twitter joke and not true. I don't see it on the news anywhere. I'm praying its not true..."

We have never quite figured out why people do things like this. It's not funny. Or a good prank. It's just kind of stupid.