R.I.P. Rowan Atkinson: Mr. Bean Twitter Death Hoax Goes Viral; Justin Bieber's Fan Urges Tricksters to Respect Him and 'Stop Joking' [TWEETS]

By Aditi Mathur | February 26 2012 9:40 AM

Death hoaxes with an ominous RIP stamp before a celebrity name have been regular on Twitter these days. Every day some celebrity or the other is declared dead, just for the sake of entertainment! And then, pranksters come up with absurd coinages, like “Really Inspiring Person for R.I.P, for justifying such immature acts.

Twitter

Sponsorship Link

The death rumor of Rowan Atkinson, popularly known as Mr. Bean, became viral on the micro-blogging site Twitter. In response to such insane tweets, Canadian singer Justin Bieber's fan (justinbieber @iTunesBelieber) wrote: R.I.P Rowan Atkinson: Stop joking. Remember he's Mr.Bean - who was a part of your childhood and grew up with you. RT to show your respect.

Twitter
Twitter

Surprisingly, Wikipedia even believed it for a few minutes. The internet encyclopedia, Wiki, can be edited and updated by anyone, hence, an anonymous someone updated the actor’s page as “born 6 January 1955- 26 February 2012”. Just five minutes later another user removed the fake death status. Nevertheless, IBTimes reporter managed to capture Wiki's folly. Check out the picture here.

Now that the hoax has taken a bad shape with people criticizing such actions to a greater extent, the trickster who started the hoax has tweeted an apology for his actions.

Shutting down now. Sorry guys, RIP Rowan Atkinson was just a joke. Sorry for that matter, I never thought it would be that viral. We<3MrBean, Michael Robert Meras wrote.

Michael, from the Philippines, started the rumor Sunday, around 11 a.m.

He tweeted, RIP Rowan Atkinson, and within an hour it became a trending topic on internet.

R.I.P. Rowan atkinson is trending on Twitter, this is just cruel. Why doesn't Twitter ban people from doing this?, Barry Stuart wrote.

R.I.P Rowan Atkinson? Really? The guy who played Mr. Bean and made you laugh till you cried? Grow up you immature idiots, Henna tweeted.

Another user Noémie wrote, I was very scared when I saw R.I.P Rowan Atkinson !! Mr Bean is a legend, respect him !!

R.I.P Rowan Atkinson? Really people? Not cool. He's my idol. Legend, a user George King ‏wrote.

Adriana, a Twitter user quite aptly wrote: R.I.P Rowan Atkinson. How retarded is this world? Whoever started this TT deserves a punch in their face.

R.I.P Rowan Atkinson isn't funny! stop trending people die who actually still alive and remember he's a part of our childhood memories!, a fuming user tweeted.

R.I.P Rowan Atkinson? Dude that's mr bean your on about, stop with these RIP ____ trends and jokes coz its not funny, a user Jess Daley Jackson said.

R.I.P Rowan Atkinson i wish Twitter would stop killing famous people he's NOT dead at all!!, a user said.

MUST READ: R.I.P. Rowan Atkinson: Mr. Bean Becomes Twitter Death Hoax Victim, Wikipedia Befooled [PHOTO]