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Simbarashe Mutizwa Showbiz Reporter
SPREADING fabricated rumours about accidents and deaths of celebrities has become the order of the day as hardly a week goes by without rumours of a celebrity who has either died or is involved in an accident.
One is left wondering whether the hoaxes are deliberately meant to provide publicity for artistes or the artistes are genuine victims of these rumours.  In most cases it is difficult to tell where the rumours originate from as they are spread via social messaging and networking applications.

At times the stories have pictures to confirm accidents making it difficult for people not to believe the stories.
Some websites and Facebook pages are now in the habit of posting false stories in order to generate clicks and try to get people to sign up for them.

Zimbabwe’s celebrities have been victims of these falsehoods and only this week social networking sites were awash with allegations that dancehall star Winky D had died after being poisoned by his girlfriend.

The Musarova Bigmanhit maker (real name Wallace Chirumiko) has on several occasions been rumoured dead with others at some point saying he had died in a car accident while returning from a show.

“Zimbabwe Celebrities” Facebook page read: “Vanhu havasi kubeliever mafiro aita Wallace Chirumiko Known as Winky Dee dancehall artiste during suspected poisoning of his food by his girlfriend. (People seem not to believe the way Wallace Chirumiko known as Winky D died after being poisoned by his girlfriend.”
However, his manager Jonathan Banda dismissed the rumours saying the “Ninja President” was alive and well.

“I’ve been receiving calls from fans inquiring about Winky’s death. I must say it is very disturbing that people would spread such rumours.
“He was never involved in any food poisoning incident and we spent the whole of yesterday (Wednesday) together.

“Don’t worry about that, he is well and around,” he said.
The dancehall star’s fans showed their love and support for the multi-award winning dancehall star as they lashed out at the administrators of the Facebook page with some insulting the person who put up the post.

Winky D is not the first Zimbabwean musician to have been rumoured dead. Each year, superstar Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi is rumoured dead.
According to reports from New Zimbabwe.Com Mtukudzi believed some Zimbabweans seemed to revel in sending hoax messages regarding the health and “well-being” of musicians.

“I have been dead five times myself. People have called newspapers and sent e-mails that I had died. This is not a culture of Zimbabweans but it appears there is an evil spirit that has seized some of our own in society.

“That spirit is bad and needs to be exorcised. These stories about ‘so and so has died’ when in actual fact it is not the truth, have serious consequences in our lives as musicians. It is wrong to enjoy being the purveyor of sad but false news,” Tuku was quoted saying in 2009.

In one of the most sensational and yet unfounded rumours, Mtukudzi was reported to have been gunned down in South Africa in 2002, forcing the iconic artiste to issue a press statement rejecting the claims.

Other local artistes who have fallen victim to the hoax messages are Leonard Zhakata, who later recorded the hit Gomba Remarara, taking a dig at people who wished him dead was also rumoured to have died at some point in his career.

The late Tongai “Dehwa” Moyo and Andy Brown were also rumoured to have died several times, before they eventually met their deaths in 2011 and 2012 respectively. When the late Dehwa was ill, he was the subject of several hoax stories announcing his death forcing him to come out and dimiss the rumours.

International celebrities always fall victim to these hoax messages with their fans always being left shell shocked, moaning their idols – just to then learn that the rumours would be false.

Just recently, incarcerated dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel fell victim to these rumours. News that the dancehall star was allegedly found dead in his prison cell spread like a veld fire.

The fabricated report stated that: “Vybz Kartel was found hanging from the ceiling of his prison cell, with what appears to be his bed covers wrapped around his neck. This came from an inside police source within the prison who called our hotline.”

Sean Kingston was rumoured dead in 2011 after he was involved in a serious Jet Ski accident.
“We are sad to report that Sean Kingston has died as a result of the severe injuries he sustained this afternoon from his jet ski crash.

“At first doctors thought his prognosis was looking good, but suddenly he went into cardiac arrest and doctors were not able to resuscitate him,” read part of the message from fiction news.

Celine Dion fans were also not spared as at one time false reports of the iconic singer’s death took Facebook by storm. For a brief moment, many people thought the iconic singer had died.

Popular actor Morgan Freeman was once reported dead in September 2012 causing a panic among thousands of his fans and moviegoers across the world. Kanye West has on several occasions been said to have died in car crashes.