LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – Drake is not dead, nor is Rick Ross, LeBron James, Eddie Murphy and Soulja Boy. Drake and the four other celebrities all battled fake death reports overnight. While fans have grown tired of online efforts to fictitiously report their favorite celebrities died, someone last night took it upon themselves to kill off not just Drake but four other male celebrities, in one evening.
Friday began with false claims that Eddie Murphy had died. But by evening, as that false report was put to sleep, another fake death report struck Drake and Rick Ross simultaneously. Meantime, the remains of a fake report about Soulja Boy and LeBron James individually were still picking up pace.
It remains unclear why the frequency and the depth of these false reports has grown so astronomically this year. Three years ago, when fake celebrity death reports began to start online, fans would see one report per week. Now they are seeing something four reports per hour.
The means, and manner, in which these fake reports start have also dramatically changing. RIP Drake, a fake Facebook page, surfaced Friday much like the RIP Beyonce page last year. From Facebook pages, to re-tweet messages, to false twitpics and websites, the manner in which these reports grow has changed.
In October 2011, Rick Ross battled false reports that he had died on Wikipedia. The website page for Ross had been changed on October 14, 2011 to claim that he had died that day. While it remained unclear what prompted the fake posting on Wikipedia, earlier that day Rick Ross had suffered a seizure during a plane flight.
Dollicia Bryan and Drake Pictures
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Rick Ross and Maybach Music executives were on a flight from Florida to Memphis when the Ross reportedly lost consciousness, claims reports. The flight was diverted and had to undergo an emergency landing. CPR was administered to Ross.
But shortly after 10:30 AM PST, rapper Wale Folarin twitted news that “I just talked to Ross…he’s 100 pct ok”. He addded “don’t panic”.
On Thursday, RIP Soulja Boy began to surface hours before a RIP Drake topic began to spread. One fan was irate, writing “That awkward moment when ‘RIP Soulja Boy’ is trending & everyone is surprised he was still alive’ #RIPSoulja.” Another person added “When y’all have a quarter of Soulja Boy’s money, get back to me. In the mean time, him & his fans will just laugh”.
Drake has battled bizarre reports online 2010. In August that year, a false report claimed that he and Nicki Minaj had gotten married. Some fans had believed a series of tweets by Nicki and Drake as true at the time. Minaj responded back “Yes, it’s true. Drake and I tied the knot.”
Drake later added “Baby I am never scared. PROUD is more the word I would use”. Drake added “Please refer to @nickiminaj as Mrs. Aubrey Drake Graham and don’t stare at her too long. She’s finally mine. 
.”
Drake did not get married to Nicki Minaj and he didn’t die either. Rick Ross is very alive as is LeBron James as well.
