Jeff Bezos has become the victim of a giant practical joke claiming that he has died.
The hashtag #RipJeffBezos has been doing the rounds on Twitter on Wednesday, apparently launched in an attempt to repeat Tuesday’s Ellen Degeneres death hoax.
“i’m literally sobbing. first ellen now jeff. i can’t believe he drowned in the amazon river.” read one of the early tweets, featuring a poorly-doctored photo of Bezos in the river with two big red Xs over his eyes. “he didn’t deserve this. ok maybe he did. yeah he definitely deserved this.”
With some 20,000 tweets as of this writing, the hashtag reached the top of Twitter trends. Twitterati are now posting satirical tributes alongside supposed photos of Bezos (those include pictures of bald men like Vin Diesel, Ian Hawke, or porn actor Johnny Sins, as well as cartoon characters like MR Proper and Squidward from Spongebob).
The hashtag #RIPEllen went viral on Tuesday in a similar fashion, reportedly in reference to recent rumours that her eponymous chat show might soon get cancelled.