After a flurry of high-profile deaths (Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Billy Mays) in late June, the Internet in general, and Twitter in particular, exploded with false reports of the untimely demise of all sorts of celebrities including The Fly himself, Jeff Goldblum. Rumors swirled that Goldblum had died on the New Zealand set of his latest movie. Thing is, though, he was in Los Angeles, alive and well. Some other subjects of false death notices that week: Britney Spears (a regular on the "She's dead! No, she's not!" circuit) and Harrison Ford. Both parties live on. The King of Pop's death was followed by what a German television station called an experiment, in which it aired a video purporting to show Jackson stepping out of a coroner's van alive. "It was made to show how easy it is to spread rumors online," said Heike Schultz, a spokeswoman for the station. Thanks for the newsflash, lady.
The Top 10 Everything of 2009
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Apologies
- Top 10 Art Exhibitions
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Facebook Stories
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Feuds
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Ideas
- Top 10 Heroes
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late-Night Jokes
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 New Species
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Pariahs
- Top 10 Pictures of the Year
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Gaffes
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-Shirt-Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Tweets
- Top 10 Underreported Stories
- Top 10 Untruths
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
- Top 10 Worst Biz Deals
TIME charts the highs and lows of the past year in 50 wide-ranging lists