Eminem Dead Announcement Sends Internet into Meltdown

Google reports of Eminem's death caused chaos on social media over the weekend.

Fans began to share their Google search results of the music icon—real name Marshall Mathers III—to social media on December 9, along with the hashtag #RIPEminem. The results listed Eminem's death date as December 10, 2023, with the 51-year-old allegedly dying in Madison, Wisconsin.

Fortunately for fans, rumors of Slim Shady's death were a hoax. It appears a prankster amended the hip-hop star's Wikipedia page to say he died, which also altered the Google search results. Newsweek has reached out to Eminem via email for comment.

The false reports served to illustrate how quickly misinformation can spread online, particularly given that it is not the first time that hoax rumors of Eminem's death have been amplified by social media.

Still, for 24 hours fans were in a panic, with one fan writing: "Can't believe he's gone."

"Nahhh not my goat [Greatest of All Time]," said Maadhav on X, formerly Twitter.

"DO NOT SCARE ME LIKE THIS," said BSL.

"That guy should be jailed he gave me an attack," joked Wealth.

"People who do this need to be locked up or fined," commented SNS.

"Streets were sayin eminem is dead. dont do that to me streets. bad naughty streets," said @mmollyraine.

Once people realized that Slim Shady was still alive, they began to poke fun at the practical joke.

"Eminem died to me when he released Encore," said dongfidence, referencing the rapper's fifth album.

"FORTNITE KILLED MY BOY!!!!" claimed @Daft_Drone, mentioning Eminem's appearance at the battle royale game's online event on December 2.

"Phew, thank goodness! I heard he's been busy making mom's spaghetti instead," said Anael, alluding to the iconic line in Lose Yourself, his first U.S. No. 1 single.

"I, too, have died in Madison, Wisconsin, but it was because I got invited to a frat party after a Badgers game," commented Jacoby Crisp. "I was fine the next day but was hungover asf! I hope that this is the case for Eminem."

A spokesperson for Google told Newsweek that the search engine uses a range of sources for its knowledge graphs, including Wikipedia. Google has systems to spot misinformation, but the tool is "not perfect."

However, the representative said that if Google is informed of an error, it acts quickly to fix it.

This isn't the first time Eminem has endured a death hoax. #RipEminem also went viral on Twitter in August 2020. A user claimed: "I killed Eminem."

The account was later suspended, but not before rumors of the Grammy winner's death began to circle the internet.

In 2006, a conspiracy theory claimed that Eminem died in a car crash in 2006 and had been replaced by an android, alleging that changes to his appearance were not due to age but robotics.

Since the release of his debut solo album, Infinite, in 1996, Eminem has sold more than 500 million records worldwide. With more than 81 award wins, the Missouri native was ranked fifth on Billboard's list of the Greatest Rappers of All Time.

Eminem's last album was Curtain Call 2, the follow-up to his 2005 greatest hits record. Released in August 2022, the album artwork—complete with hidden messages—prompted a mixed reaction among his fanbase.

Later last year, he was criticized for mentioning Jeffrey Dahmer in three of his songs—Bagpipes from Baghdad, Must Be the Ganja and Brainless. He was one of several musicians to be blasted for name-checking the serial killer following Netflix's release of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which detailed his crimes.

Update 12/22/23, 07:21 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Google.