Britney Spears is new victim of online death hoax

In this Feb. 1, 2015, file photo, Britney Spears arrives at the Super Bowl XLIX red carpet in Glendale, Ariz. An on-stage ankle injury has pop star Spears rescheduling her Friday and Saturday night, May 1 and 2, 2015, performances on the Las Vegas Strip so she doesn’t, oops, do it again. A statement from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino where Spears performs her “Britney: Piece of Me” show said Thursday, April 30, 2015, the star’s doctor recommended she take the two days to heal. (Photo by Omar Vega/Invision/AP)

Britney Spears was the newest target of the celebrity death hoax trend when Sony Music’s Twitter account announced her “death.”

According to a report by The Sun, the recording company tweeted on Monday that the pop hitmaker died “due to an accident.”

“RIP Britney Spears #RIPBritney 1981-2016,” the tweet read. “Britney Spears is dead by accident! We will tell you more soon #RIPBritney.”

READ: Britney Spears ‘almost drowned’ at Hawaii beach

Detecting a possible hack from online group Our Mine, Sony Music deleted the tweets and announced that Spears is alive: “We saw a new IP logged into the account a few minutes ago and the tweet is posted by a new IP so #britneyspears is still alive #OurMine.”

This is the second time the “Hit Me Baby One More Time” hitmaker, 35, was ensnared in a death prank. Back in 2001, some radio hosts joked that Spears’ then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake perished in a car accident. Meanwhile, Spears revealed in August that she almost died while surfing in Hawaii with her sons.

Spears “rose” from her scary death news when she posted a selfie on her social media accounts. “Don’t underestimate the power of Charlie’s [Angels],” she captioned her post.

A string of death hoaxes has been plaguing celebrities since early this year, as in the case of veteran action star Sylvester Stallone who was targeted by a death hoax from a spammed article that seared social media. Gianna Francesca Catolico

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