One Direction singer Zayn Malik is the latest celebrity to fall victim to a tasteless death hoax. The 21-year-old is fine (and still alive) but fans panicked earlier when the Twitter hashtag "#RIPZatnMalik" started trending worldwide on the social networking site.
According to Gossip Cop, the rumor started after a fake BBC report popped up on the Internet claiming that Malik had been found dead in a hotel room. Reportedly a similar fake report tricked fans a few years claiming that Lady Gaga had passed away.
One Directioners quickly realized that the story was a fake and were angry that someone would joke about the "Best Song Ever" singer dying. Some fans urged people to stop using the hashtag so it wouldn't trend.
"why is rip Zayn Malik trending I will literally kill everyone," one user tweeted.
"This trend rip Zayn Malik is disgusting and whoever started it is heartless," another fan wrote on Twitter.
"whoever started the rip Zayn Malik trend I hope you get eaten by a shark," a One Direction fan posted.
"Why is rip Zayn Malik trending? This is sick, he does have feelings you know," another Twitter user wrote.
"if you keep using the '# RIP Zayn Malik' hashtag it will continue to show. DO NOT USE IT! #WeLoveZayn," a fan commented.
Malik is currently engaged to Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards. The couple hasn't revealed any solid wedding plans yet but Edwards told Perez Hilton that she's definitely excited to get married and start a family.
"I can't wait to get married and have kids but it's Little Mix at the minute," she said. "I want Little Mix to explode and be massive, then I think we'll all settle down and get married and have kids and stuff like that."
