Mickey Rourke's Celebrity Death Hoax

Rourke with Basinger at the Informers premiere (2008). They appeared together again in Black November (2012). Image Source: NY Post.

From the Disinformation files: American actor Mickey Rourke has recently fallen victim to a Website that claimed he died on 23 January 2013 and 12 February 2013. The site is the so-called Global Associated Press, which states:

THIS STORY IS STILL DEVELOPING...
Actor Mickey Rourke is reported to have died shortly after a snowboard accident earlier today - February 12, 2013.

The actor & novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Zermatt ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland with family and friends. Witnesses indicate that Mickey Rourke lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.

Mickey Rourke was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the actor died instantly from the impact of the crash. The actor was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played any part in his death.

Another Website, The Daily Caller, explains that this faux news outlet kills off a celebrity every other month or so:

No, Mickey Rourke did not die in a snowboarding accident while on vacation in Zermatt, Switzerland. The actor is the latest victim of a frequently recycled Internet hoax. Every few months, the Global Associated News — which kind of sounds like a legitimate news wire, but is definitely not — decides to kill off a random celebrity in a skiing or snowboarding accident at the same Swiss resort. Victims of the same fake, perilous accident include Sylvester Stallone, Nicolas Cage, Eddie Murphy (a few different times), Adam Sandler, Denzel Washington, Jim Carrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to an article on the website Travelers Today, Rourke’s Wikipedia page was even amended to say that he died on Jan. 23, 2013, but it has since been reverted.

On the other hand, Rourke did apparently release photos of himself healing from plastic surgery in the past million years (aka 2011?), which look real enough.

Image Source: Splash via Radar Online.