Did Britney Spears DIE? Not So Fast Internets

A Twitter hoax targeted Britney Spears, Sony Music Entertainment and ostensibly her fans, telling them the pop singer had died in “an accident.”

Monday morning Sony Music‘s Twitter account popped off several tweets announcing that Spears had died. Those false tweets were later deleted.

“Britney Spears is dead by accident! We will tell you more soon,” one of the posts read. A similar bit was on Bob Dylan’s Twitter feed. Ms. Spears’s manager, Adam Leber, told CNN that “Britney is fine and well.” The hacker group OurMine took responsibility for attack. It has previously hacked the Twitter accounts of Marvel and Netflix, as well as Mark Zuckerberg and other high-profile tech executives. As of midday Monday, the Twitter accounts of Sony Music and Mr. Dylan were still performing erratically, with notifications to new posts that did not exist. h/t nytimes

A representative from Sony released a statement in response, saying: “Sony Music Entertainment’s Twitter account was compromised. This has been rectified. Sony Music apologizes to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion.”

The cruel hoax comes on the heels of the death of singer, George Michael, who did die Christmas day in his London home.