S. Samuel
Brooklyn rap veteran Lil Kim has made headlines kicking the week off as the weekend passing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has sparked confusion over social networking platforms.
According to reports, Jong Il’s death sparked a fury of misreported passings.
Questions such as: “Is Lil Kim dead??” and “Lil Kim’s dead? Is there any truth to this?” Yes, in the wake of the passing of Kim Jong Il, some Twitter users seemingly believe that the female rapper Lil’ Kim had died instead. BuzzFeed has compiled a list of 25 such people. For the record, she did not. But we should have expected this sort of thing. Of course, a visit to a search engine could have cleared up any confusion, as it did for this person: “I searched online. You guys are wrong. Lil Kim’s alive.” Other Twitter users began referring to Kim Jong Il as Lil’ Kim on the social network site, perhaps because of his size or as a sign of disrespect. (Mother Jones once compared the two figures.) (The Washington Post)
The Lil Kim death confusion reportedly stemmed from cultural critic N’Gai Croal.
Croal tweeted “RIP, Lil’ Kim” after news of Jong Il’s death emerged, prompting countless other to spread the rumor that the Brooklyn female rapper famous for “Lady Marmalade” had died. However, they must have missed the part where Croal tweeted an article announcing the death of Jong Il with the suspected flub. Shortly after, Lil’ Kim became a trending topic on Twitter and other social media Web sites, with fans wondering if Kim had died. (International Business Times)
Last month, West Coast rapper Too Short fell victim to false death reports.
“Stop calling my phone. I’m not dead. Been in the lab working on my 19th album #NoTrespassing in stores Feb 2012,” he tweeted November 22nd.
“Are U serious? How did they say I died this time? And when did wikipidia & twitter become reliable news sources???” (Too Short’s Twitter)
A couple days prior, female rapper Missy Elliott also addressed reports claiming she met her demise.
“I’m Great ppl 4 all who keep asking! Alive and well! Enjoy ya night tweeps!,” she tweeted November 20th.
“@iLive4MISSY. Yea Sadly sum1 was that miserable to make up such a cruel rumor! It Makes me work harder make em mad!”
“@MKayMisdemeanor I’m done addressing the foolishness! IM ALIVE! God will deal with those who play about things like that!” (Missy Elliott’s Twitter)
