Bill Cosby holds record for most deaths?

Bored on a summer evening with nothing much to do? Why not invent a celebrity death?

For the fourth time in recent times, Bill Cosby has had to issue a statement denying his own death. Rumours of the comedian’s death swept the internet yesterday and “Bill Cosby died” remains the number one trending topic on Twitter this morning. “Is Bill Cosby dead” is the second most searched-for term on Google Trends, which tracks terms entered into the search engine.

Other celebrities who have previously been declared dead online include Justin Bieber and Kayne West, but Cosby could well hold the record for the most deaths reported.

Cosby took to Twitter to tell the world he’s still alive and kicking. “Again, I'm rebuttaling (sic) rumours about my demise,” he posted on his page. “Emotional friends have called about this misinformation. To the people behind the foolishness, I’m not sure you see how upsetting this is.” He then used his moment in the spotlight to promote an iTunes application featuring clips of the comedian's performances. “But, I'm confirming I have an app,” he Tweeted.

Cosby said yesterday’s rumour left one of his friends in tears before he realised it wasn’t true. “I don't know. Maybe a psychiatrist will say I'm feeding [the rumor starter's] ego, but I just want to say to friends of that person: Just tell him to stop, because it isn't funny,” the 73-year-old comedian told CNN’s Kyra Phillips last night on the station’s hit chat show, “Larry King Live”. Phillips was sitting in for King.

“I don't want [whoever spread the rumor] to do this anymore, because this is my fourth time being reported [dead],” he said.

He has countered previous rumours with trademark wit. After the first, he borrowed a Mark Twain quote about reports of his death being an exaggeration.

This February, too, he was the subject of another death rumour. At the time he said: “As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal. Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttaling and went into denial.” He acknowledged that "rebuttal" was not used as a verb – but said: “I don’t care, because I’m alive!”

Twitter users, nevertheless continued the thread, in some cases merely reacting to the topic, in others putting things right. One user, called Lord_Voldemort7, said: “Bill Cosby has "died" four times already. Listen Cosby, returning from supposed death is MY THING. Cut it the hell out.”

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