Killing celebrities on social media has become a trend these days with many of the stars falling victims to death hoaxes.
The year 2015 was no different for Mollywood celebs, who were killed by people on social media.
Malayalam actors Jagathy Sreekumar, Mamukkoya, Anu Joseph, Salim Kumar and director Boban Samuel fell victim to such social media attacks this year.
Malayalam actor Jagathy Sreeekumar was killed by netizens, who started sharing a death hoax report of the actor. A photo, showing Malayalam news channel Manorama's layout claiming "the actor passed away following heart attack" went viral on WhatsApp and Facebook on 27 November. The photo was said to be a morphed one and Jagathy's love child Sreelekshmi Sreekumar came forward slamming the death hoax.
A photo of Mamukkoya along with the message "Mamukoya passed away in a private hospital in Kozhikode. The actor was under treatment for his kidney for quite some time now" was shared on WhatsApp on 8 October. Mamukkoya was in a shooting location when his well-wishers started contacting him.
Malayalam actress Anu Joseph was killed by social media users, who claimed that the "Karyam Nisaram" actress was killed in a car accident in April. Later, Anu came forward to say that she is very much alive and said it might be a prank played by someone on April fool's day.
Malayalam filmmaker Boban Samuel, who is known for his movies "Janapriyan" and "Happy Journey", also became a victim of death hoax on social media. Later, he took to his Facebook page to confirm he is alive and added that those who wanted to talk to souls can contact him through his phone. He also shared the screenshots of people, who posted condolence messages to him.
Salim Kumar
The National Award winning actor Salim Kumar was also rumoured to have died a couple of times. The hoax messages had it that the actor died due to liver cirrhosis. Later, he came forward and criticised people who use social media irresponsibly, saying that "social media users are reporters of a newspaper that has no editor."
