Peter Dinklage is NOT Dead – Actor Targeted in Celebrity Death Hoax – Hoax-Slayer

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0],  via Wikimedia Commons

According to a report circulating via social media, actor Peter Dinklage has been killed in a car accident. Peter Dinklage plays the character Tyrion Lannister in the TV series Game of Thrones.  

However, the claims in the report are untrue. Peter Dinklage has not been killed. Peter is alive and well. There are no credible news stories that support the claims in the report.

The  report  originally  came from a dodgy ‘news’ website called ‘Gendalf News’. The site, which is now offline,   mixed true or partially true stories among stories that were outright fiction and makes no effort to distinguish between the two. Nor did it include any clear disclaimer that might alert readers that at least some of its “news” content is made up.

The car accident image used in the fake story is  taken from earlier news reports  about a fatal car accident that had no connection whatsoever to Peter Dinklage.

Thus, nothing published on the site should be taken seriously.

Fake news stories  claiming that a celebrity  has died are very common. Some, like this one, are click bait designed to trick users into visiting dodgy websites, Others are just nasty pranks. And, some more sinister versions attempt to trick people into downloading malware or providing their personal information via survey scams.

It is wise to verify any celebrity death messages that come your way via social media before you share them with others. If a famous person really does die, the story will be extensively covered by mainstream media. Thus, a quick search of a news portal such as Google News should reveal if a circulating celebrity death story is true.  

Example