Lil Wayne Dies? Nope, Victim of Viral Death Hoax

Lil Wayne has not died, but a viral video being shared on Facebook is saying that he has.
Lil Wayne Dies? Nope, Victim of Viral Death Hoax
Rappers Mack Maine and Lil Wayne in 2009 (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jack Phillips
12/17/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

Lil Wayne has not died, but a viral video being shared on Facebook is saying that he has.

The video, which has unknown origins, says “RIP Rapper Lil Wayne Found Dead,” but its a fake.

The rapper has been the victim of online death hoaxes in the past, and the latest video posted on Facebook could be used to spread malware.

Lil Wayne has been involved in a death scare earlier this year after he was hospitalized for seizures. Celebrity news website TMZ reported at the time that he was on the verge of dying and received his last rites.

The report was inaccurate as the rapper survived and appears to be doing well, even appearing alongside Floyd Mayweather in his fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September.

“The thing is, man, the bad news is, I’m an epileptic, so I’m prone to seizures,” Wayne told People magazine

He added: “This isn’t my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh seizure. I’ve had a bunch of seizures; y’all just never hear about it. This time it got real bad because I got three of ‘em in a row, and on the third one, my heart rate went down to, like, 30 percent. Basically, I could’ve died soon. That’s why it was so serious. The reason being for the seizures is just plain stress, no rest and overworking myself. That’s typical me, though.”

In June, Wayne told Jimmy Kimmel on his show: “Was serious because I was upstairs and my homies were downstairs, and they didn’t even know that I was up there seizing. One of them just was like, he hasn’t come down in a minute.”

He added, “It’s just a private matter that I’ve been dealing with my whole life. We’re so used to it happening, so my doctors prepped all my homies.”

Wayne also released music on Tuesday with singer Chris Brown and French Montana.

A number of users on Facebook and Twitter shared the video. On Google Trends, more than 200,000 people searched for reports about it on Monday.

“So lil Wayne really died?!” wrote one. 

Added another: “Lil Wayne dead or this a wine up ?” 

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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