Why There Are So Many Death Hoaxes About North Korea's Kim Jong Un
As it turns out, rumors of Kim Jong Un's death were greatly exaggerated.
Because just as the chatter began, North Korea appeared to push back. The country's state newspaper Rodong Sinmund published recent images of Kim touring a Pyongyang clothing and footwear exhibition with his daughter Kim Ju Ae after Wanjun Xie, the self-identified chairman of the Chinese Democratic Party, claimed the dictator had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died.
The photos certainly brought into question the story that Xie had been shopping around.
Though he had no evidence, the Chinese dissident claimed in a series of posts on X that after Kim's medical episode, the 42-year-old lost consciousness and was transferred to Beijing's Peking Union Medical College Hospital due to inadequate medical facilities in North Korea. Per Xie, the leader died there and his body was secretly returned to North Korea.
"Rumors of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have been circulating online for days," he wrote in one Oct. 19 missive, "but Kim Jong Un has not yet made a public appearance to deny them. This indirectly confirms that the rumors of Kim Jong Un's death are likely true."
And his story is just the latest death hoax surrounding Kim, North Korea's entirely locked-down, secretive nature leading outsiders to fill in the blanks themselves.
In 2020, for instance, when Kim wasn't seen for a few weeks, there was widespread chatter that he'd passed after receiving cardiovascular surgery.
At the heart of the matter, explained experts, was the dictator's general health, with South Korean intelligence officials having described him as a heavy smoker.
"There have been rumors before of his death," North Korea analyst Benedict Rogers recently told The Sun's YouTube channel. "He doesn’t look a well man."
And with cardiovascular issues and strokes tending to run in the Kim family—which has ruled North Korea for three generations—rumors persist.
Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP via Getty Images
When Kim Il Sung collapsed after a sudden heart attack in 1994, the then-82-year-old had spent decades preparing his son Kim Jong Il to take over. When he then suffered a stroke in 2008—dying three years later—Kim Jong Un rapidly rose to power.
South Korean intelligence officials believe Kim is now preparing his 13-year-old daughter to take over the family business, making her the first woman to lead the country.
But with so few pieces of information released by North Korean officials, it seems all but certain speculation will continue.
Of course, Kim isn't the only bold-faced name to become the subject of death rumors. Check out the other celebrities who metaphorically rose from the dead.
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Steve Burns
The Blues Clues star doesn't have a clue how these rumors started. But even while he was still on the Nickelodeon series, there were false stories that he had died. And Steve, who is very much alive, has spoken about the toll this hoax took on his mental health.
"When a gazillion people you've never met tell you that you're dead, it's bad when you're severely clinically depressed," he shared on a May 2025 episode of Rainn Wilson's Soul Bloom podcast. "And there was nothing I could do about this rumor."
After Steve left the show in the early aughts, the rumors continued: "It was one of the most common things people would say to me was, 'I thought you were dead.'"
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Queen Latifah
In March 2026, the Equalizer actress shut down rumors that she had died.
"I’m 100 percent A-OK," she said in an Instagram video. "Can’t believe what you read on the internet or see. Can’t believe nothing now, right? I’m good. Peace."
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Lil Tay
Days after a statement on her Instagram reported the rapper and her brother had died, Lil Tay confirmed her account was hacked.
"I want to make it clear that my brother and I are safe and alive, but I’m completely heartbroken, and struggling to even find the right words to say," she told TMZ. "It’s been a very traumatizing 24 hours. All day yesterday, I was bombarded with endless heartbreaking and tearful phone calls from loved ones all while trying to sort out this mess."
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Queen Elizabeth II
Yes, Queen Elizabeth II is actually dead.
But six months before her September 2022 passing, she got entangled in hoax when Hollywood Unlocked prematurely reported she died.
"I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and everything aligns with me feeling very confident, which is why I doubled down on it," the outlet's CEO Jason Lee told BuzzFeed News in February 2022. "Now if I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to go out there and say, hey, it's the first time I got it wrong and this is a big wrong, on to the next story."
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Eminem
Will the source behind these hoaxes please stand up?
Over the years, Eminem has been the subject of several false death stories, including one that started in August 2023 after an "R.I.P. Eminem" Facebook page caught attention.
"He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax," his rep said in a statement obtained by The Sun. "He's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet."
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Wayne Knight
The Seinfeld alum took to Twitter in 2014 to assure fans that he is "alive and well" after several fake sites reported he died in a car crash.
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Chloë Grace Moretz
The Carrie star was none too pleased to learn some mischiefmakers spread false reports about her dying in a snowboarding mishap in 2013.
"I've had my loved ones calling crying to check and see if I'm alive," Chloë tweeted at the time. "Don't make this up. It's not real. I am fully alive and here. You're sick."
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Jim Carrey
A fake RIP Jim Carrey Facebook page claimed the actor was killed in a plane crash in 2012. However, his rep assured E! News The Mask star is just fine.
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Reba McEntire
The country singer shot down rumors about her alleged death in Austria, tweeting in 2012, "While I would love to be shooting a movie in Austria, I definitely did not fall off a mountain! Nor am I dead! I am alive and kicking!!!"
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Jon Bon Jovi
To prove he didn't die from cardiac arrest as the 2011 rumors claimed, the "Livin' on a Prayer" singer posted a photo with the date that read, "Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey. Rest assured that Jon is alive and well! This photo was just taken."
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Missy Elliott
The rapper put death rumors to rest when she tweeted in 2011, "I'm Great ppl 4 all who keep asking! Alive and well! Enjoy ya night tweeps!" The next day she added, "Yea Sadly sum1 was that miserable to make up such a cruel rumor! It Makes me work harder make em mad!"
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Denzel Washington
After false rumors spread that the Oscar winner fell victim to a snowboarding accident in 2011, his publicist cleared the air by telling E!, "He is working on location in Atlanta currently."
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Jackie Chan
When somebody created an "R.I.P. Jackie Chan" Facebook page in 2011, false rumors claiming the Rush Hour actor died became the talk of the social world. Unfortunately, he isn't a stranger to a death hoax as similar gossip had spread earlier that year.
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
After hearing reports he had fallen off a cliff in New Zealand and died in 2011, the actor took to Twitter to prove the hoaxers wrong. "I would love to meet the person who is starting rumors of my death," he wrote, "to show them how a dead foot feels up their ass."
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Kanye "Ye" West
In 2009, fake rumors spread that the rapper had been involved in a fatal car crash, leading "RIP Kanye West" to trend on Twitter. However, Amber Rose, who dated him at the time, set the record straight, tweeting, "This RIPKanyeWest topic is not funny and its NOT TRUE!"
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Zach Braff
After it was inaccurately reported that the Scrubs star died in 2009, he made a video to confirm he's OK.
"I'm alive," Zach said in the clip. "I'm here at Scrubs shooting the new Scrubs title sequence which is a little bit like dying, so I guess that was semi-accurate."
He even brought his costar Donald Faison in on the hoax.
"I was able to work out with him that if I do ever die," Zach continued, "I would like him to sing an R&B version of 'Wind Beneath My Wings' at my funeral."
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Matt Damon
That same year, there were untrue rumors that the Oscar winner went missing during a camping trip in California's Palo Verde Mountains. However, Matt just laughed off the comments.
"I haven't heard," he said on the Late Show With David Letterman at the time, per TMZ, "but I feel pretty good."
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William Shatner
The Star Trek icon addressed rumors that he was dying of stage 4 brain cancer in 2026, calling out a Facebook group for "using AI to create horrible fake news stories" about his health.
"None of these stories are true," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "but they apparently seem genuine enough for fans to repost them across social media and send messages of support to me and my family all while the culprits behind the account make money."
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Britney Spears
In 2009, a hacker posted a "sad day" message on the singer's TwitPic account.
"Britney's Twitter was just hacked," a follow-up post read. "The last message is obviously not true. She is fine and dandy spending a quiet day at home relaxing."
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Jeff Goldblum
Things tend to happen in threes, so when rumors hit the internet that the Law & Order: Criminal Intent star died on the same day as Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, fans were panic-stricken. But soon after, Jeff appeared on The Colbert Report to laugh off the fake story.
"No one will miss Jeff Goldblum more than me," he quipped. "He was not only a friend and a mentor, but he was also, um, me."
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Tom Cruise
The Top Gun star was actually in New York City when 2010 rumors spread that he fell from the Kauri Cliffs.
"This is completely not true," Cruise's publicist told E! News at the time. "Tom is not in New Zealand nor has he been there recently. This is erroneous and unreliable Internet garbage."
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Miley Cyrus
These rumors came in like a wrecking ball.
Miley spent the latter half of 2008 debunking false rumors, including one that a truck drove straight into her car and another that she was killed by a drunk driver. However, none of them were true and she's still just being Miley.
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Sinbad
In 2007, a prankster wrongfully declared on Wikipedia that Sinbad, whose real name is David Adkins, died of a heart attack. However, a spokesperson for the website noted, "Somebody vandalized the page."
Meanwhile, a rep for the comic told Reuters, "Sinbad is healthy, well and enjoying life!"
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Will Ferrell
After a 2006 rumor inaccurately claimed the Anchorman star died in a paragliding accident, he didn't pay it too much attention.
"Not much to say other than we heard and read about it this morning and reacted accordingly," Ferrell's publicist told E! in an email at the time. "There was no point in trying to track [the source] down as it was obviously a hoax."
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Justin Timberlake & Britney Spears
Back in 2001, a set of Texas DJs caused a nationwide panic when they reported the then-couple were in a car accident that left the *NSYNC alum in a coma and the pop princess dead. However, their reps slammed the false gossip.
"There is no truth to the rumor circulating around the world that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were involved in a car accident on Tuesday in Los Angeles," a rep from their label at the time told E!. "Spears and Timberlake are in great health."
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Paul McCartney
A conspiracy theory claimed the Beatles member died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike. However, Paul has denounced the rumor many times, including in a Saturday Night Live skit where the now-late comedian Chris Farley asked him about the hoax and the musician confirmed, "Yeah, I wasn't really dead."
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