Bob Dylan fell for it, and he wasn’t alone. Monday morning, #RIPBritney began trending after Sony Music’s Twitter account was hacked. It reported Britney Spears had died at age 35.

Rock musician Bob Dylan performs at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo by Robert Galbraith via Reuters
Rock musician Bob Dylan performs at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo by Robert Galbraith via Reuters

The New York Daily News reported “Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan retweeted one of the messages and also added his own tweet, ‘Rest in peace @britneyspears.’ It is unclear if Dylan was also hacked, but the tweet was deleted shortly after it was posted.”

“It appears @SonyMusicGlobal erroneously tweeted her death,” CNN news editor AnneClaire Stapleton tweeted.

“There have been a few Internet clowns over the years who have made similar claims about her death, but never from the official Sony Music Twitter account,” Spears’ rep told CNN.

Even TMZ was taken in. Its report was killed, leaving a dead link. The site recovered with its own hacking story, however.

Relief was followed by sarcasm:

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