A publicist for Robert Redford has confirmed the silver-screen icon is alive and well after a hoax news report of his death circulated rapidly on Twitter on New Year’s Eve.
Social media was set ablaze for a brief time on Thursday with reports that the 79-year-old actor-director had died after falling from a golf cart in Santa Monica, California. A fake Twitter account purporting to be Britain’s Sky News had tweeted out the fake news of Redford’s death.
Social media users quickly posted “RIP” tributes to the Oscar-winning screen legend as the hoax spread.
But Cindi Berger, Redford’s publicist, worked quickly to assure fans that the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid star had fallen victim to a “sick” Internet hoax.
“This is a sick hoax. I just spoke to him and there is no truth to this whatsoever,” Berger said in a statement to Reuters, saying the actor was at home, alive and well.
Redford, who does not have an account on Twitter, did not immediately issue a comment of his own.
The fake Twitter account that sparked the hoax has in the past reportedly spread other false reports about celebrity deaths, including that of actor John Travolta. The account has since been suspended by Twitter.
Redford currently stars as Dan Rather in the recently-released “Rathergate” film Truth and will reportedly attend the Sundance Film Festival, an event he co-founded, in Utah later this month.
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