Tim Curry is still alive, despite this weird death hoax article
Former actor and singer Tim Curry died in February 2023.
On February 16th, 2023 we turned our attention to a strange article hosted by MediaMass.net. The story featured the caption, “‘Tim Curry Dead 2023’: Actor Killed by Internet Death Scam.”
However, the only death hoax we could find for the former actor and singer was fueled by the exact same article.
Here’s what we mean by that.
The update’
The day we wrote this fact check, the Article on MediaMass.net showed an “update” that read: “UPDATE 02/16/2023: This story appears to be incorrect.”
We looked at one archived March 2015 version of the same MediaMass.net article, which read: “UPDATE 3/24/2015: This story appears to be false.”
In other words, the dates of the item are changed to today’s date every day. This would give the false impression that the death hoax is always new, apparently just to drive traffic to the old and seemingly unhelpful article.
The Death Scam
In March 2015, the same article stated that the alleged death scam went like this:
On Sunday (March 22, 2015) at around 11 am ET our beloved actor Tim Curry passed away. Tim Curry was born on April 19, 1946 in Grappenhall. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting and liking this page.
On 02/16/2023, the article showed the same sentences, only with today’s date instead of 03/22/2015:
On Wednesday (February 15, 2023) at approximately 11am ET our beloved actor Tim Curry passed away. Tim Curry was born on April 19, 1946 in Grappenhall. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting and liking this page.
The Statement of “The Actor’s Reps”
The end of the 2015 version of the misleading article claimed to show a new statement from Curry’s agent or other representatives:
On Monday (March 23), the actor’s representatives officially confirmed that Tim Curry is not dead. “He joins the long list of celebrities who have fallen victim to this hoax. He’s alive and well, stop believing what you see on the internet,” they said.
The same statement, allegedly from “the actor’s representatives,” was dated February 16, 2023 in the live version of the article:
On Thursday (February 16), the actor’s representatives officially confirmed that Tim Curry is not dead. “He joins the long list of celebrities who have fallen victim to this hoax. He’s alive and well, stop believing what you see on the internet,” they said.
Again, this wasn’t a new death hoax, nor were we sure it was something people had shared on social media in the past. As we mentioned earlier, the dates in the story just seemed to be updated regularly to make it appear like the article and the death hoax were new.
We didn’t find any recent news articles saying anything about Curry’s health other than various stories that reported about him suffered a stroke in 2012 and has been using a wheelchair ever since.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-tim-curry-still-alive/ Tim Curry is still alive, despite this weird death hoax article
