Never fear, Sly’s still here!
A lot of Sylvester Stallone fans have been understandably upset this week by a post making its way around Facebook claiming that Sly is dead. Don’t worry, it’s a total scam.
The manufactured “news” article is created to look like a respectable CNN breaking news story with headlines like “Sylvester Stallone Dead at 69, Exclusive Video Footage”. These guys didn’t even do their homework, because Sly celebrated his 70th birthday this summer in Nice, France.
The false imagery includes a headshot of Sly and background footage of a body bag being wheeled away by Los Angeles County Coroner.
You may recognize that sad scene; it’s actually the body of Sly’s 36-year-old son Sage Stallone being removed from his home following his tragic death back in 2012. If you spot this scam story online, don’t click it. It leads to an old article about Sage’s death, and clicking to read it may put you and your computer at risk.
[irp posts=”3090″ name=”Sly’s Son Sage Stallone Tragically Dies at 36″]
This isn’t the first Sylvester Stallone death hoax; it was first falsely reported that Sly was killed in a snowboarding accident in Switzerland in 2014. Another report around that time was titled “RIP Sylvester Stallone Died in a Horrible Car Accident”. More ridiculous Stallone death hoaxes even make the claims that he overdosed on prescription medication, or committed suicide.
Other Celebrity Death Hoaxes on Social Media
Stars like Angelina Jolie, Vin Diesel and Nicolas Cage have also fallen prey to this same sort of celebrity death hoax in recent times.
The scam works like this. An alarming and false report of a celebrity’s death is released on social media by a clickbait website as a post or an ad, and when you click on it to read the full story, the scammer requests access to your social media account. The false story is used as bait to get you to reveal your personal information and redirect you to an alternative news story.
Stallone Alive and Well This Week
On Friday, the day AFTER reports of his death began circulating on Facebook, Sly Stallone was visiting Mexico where he attended the Telmex Foundation’s National Conference. He appeared on stage in front of a massive crowd to welcome philanthropist Carlos Slim, afterwards releasing a fun photo with Slim on his Instagram account.
