Is Morgan Freeman Dead? No. CNN Death Hoax Spreads on Twitter

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Morgan Freeman Death Rumors Are Spreading Online. Is Morgan Freeman Dead? Did CNN Falsely Report on Freeman's Death? Is It All a Hoax? If So, Where Did It Come From?

You may have seen some comments in your Twitter feed about the death of Morgan Freeman.

So is Morgan Freeman Dead?

Uh, no. As far as we can tell, Morgan Freeman is alive and well and probably doing an awesome voice-over for a car commercial or something. At this time there are no major media reports on the death of Morgan Freeman. He appears to be the victim of yet another celebrity death hoax.

Did CNN Falsely Report on the Death of Morgan Freeman?

There are reports that CNN falsely reported the death of Morgan Freeman and then retracted the story.

Many Twitter users retweeted the following message:

" @CNN: Breaking News: actor Morgan Freeman has passed away in his Burbank home"

Some are stating that CNN tweeted on Freeman's death and then immediately retracted it. There doesn't appear to be any mention of Freeman's death on CNN's official Twitter feed. 

KTLA is reporting that CNN retracted its statement on the death of Morgan Freeman:

"NEWS ALERT: Morgan Freeman not dead, CNN retracts statement."

Of course, this being the internet the entire thing could be a hoax that CNN had nothing to do with.

According to Live News Wire, a CNN official said that they never tweeted on the death of Morgan Freeman.

There are other indications that CNN did not tweet or retract a statement on the death of Morgan Freeman. For one, the syntax doesn't appear to be right. A quick search of CNN Tweets shows that the news organization does not use the term "Breaking News" in any of its tweets.

CNN Public Relations has tweeted that "#CNN did not report Morgan Freeman death. Rumor is false. CNN will aggressively investigate this hoax."

Where Did the Morgan Freeman Death Rumor Come From?

A quick Twitter search shows that the first appearance of the Morgan Freeman tweet appears to have come from a user named @originalcjizzle. Later on he tweeted "Ppl shouldn't be so damn gullible."

He then tweeted: "Morgan Freeman is alive & well.. I just issued a formal apology to a man who identified himself as an employee of the New York Post" and "It was an inside joke between friends. I had no intention of things turning out this way."

So welcome to the media landscape of 2010, a place where huge news-gathering organizations like CNN are forced to respond to online rumors started by a man who calls himself C. Jizzle.