Jack Black “is alive and well” after his death was announced on Tenacious D’s Twitter account following an apparent hack early Sunday morning.
The actor and musician became the latest celebrity to be targeted by a death hoax in what was called a “sick prank” in a later tweet from his rock duo’s Twitter account.
Speculation about the actor’s possible death began after a tweet, allegedly sent by Tenacious D, read, “I’m sad to officially annouce (sic) the death of Jack Black at the age of 46, rest in peace brother.”
However, the message has since been deleted, and subsequent tweets from the account confirmed it had been hacked.
“WE had our Twitter account hacked. We can assure you that Jack is ALIVE and WELL and that this was a sick ‘prank,'” a later tweet stated.
WE had our Twitter account hacked. We can assure you that Jack is ALIVE and WELL and that this was a sick "prank".
— Tenacious D (@tenaciousd) June 5, 2016
John Konesky, Tenacious D’s guitarist, confirmed the hack separately on his own account shortly after 4 a.m.
Black has previously been the victim of online hoaxes, with one in 2014 claiming he had died after suffering a stroke and another in 2012 alleging he fell off a cliff in New Zealand, BBC News reported.
A number of celebrities have also been the target of death hoaxes over the years, including Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Jeff Goldblum and Cher, according to the Los Angeles Times.