Don't Believe Everything You Read

With the unusually high number of actual celebrity deaths that have taken place in recent weeks there has also been a slew of false reports about other famous people that have supposedly died. While checking my Twitter page last week I saw a few tweets that said actor Jeff Goldblum (pictured here) had been killed on a movie set in New Zealand.

After a quick Google search and checking a few reputable online sites, I saw no report of his death and guessed correctly that it was a hoax. But Goldblum isn't the only actor that has been reported to kick the bucket recently. I've also read that stars like Harrison Ford and George Clooney had died. (For what it's worth, they're still around).

Actor Rainn Wilson, who plays the immortal Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office, showed his funny side when he broke the story on his Twitter page that he, too, had apparently died on a movie set in New Zealand. CNN.com writes that Goldblum also took it all in good fun when he appeared on the Colbert Report:

"In the episode, host Stephen Colbert jokes that he thinks Goldblum is dead even as the actor appears on stage beside him.

Goldblum then posts to Twitter to try to prove that he is still living.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have huge news," Colbert says, upon reading Goldblum's tweet on his phone. "The dead can Twitter."

Goldblum then reads his own false obituary into the camera."

Very simply, don't believe everything you read. With the popular of online social networking, news, whether it is true or not, travels more rapidly than ever before. So anytime you see a friend or an online site posting something outlandish, make sure you double-check your sources before spreading the information on. Check the sites for established newspapers online for breaking news and visit http://www.snopes.com/ to check on newer rumors or potential urban legends. Your friends will thank you for it.