People are confusing the Take That singer with Robin Williams
Alexandra Pollard

10:48 12th August 2014

As soon as the death of comedian and actor Robin Williams was announced, Twitter was flooded with heartfelt tributes to the star, whose films were a staple of many people's childhoods and beyond. There were also many people, though, who thought Robbie Williams had died.

Rather than bothering to read the name more than once, or look at accompanying pictures of the news stories which show a man who is clearly not Robbie Williams, these people decided to immediately tweet their sadness over the former Take That singer's 'death'. 

If any of these tweets are yours, please either learn to read properly, or stop making boring jokes. Thank you. And thanks for the laughs, Robin.

A similar thing happened when people flooded 'Mambo No.5' singer Lou Bega with tributes after the death of Lou Reed

- Read the music world's tributes to Robin Williams here 

Below: 'I'm not dead' - when music stars are mistaken for dead

  • Usher: Rumours circulated that he had died in a car crash, he posted the above picture along with "I must've died and went to heaven...Alive and cold kickin ass!"

  • Chris Brown: Hoaxers took to Twitter and spammed his Youtube videos to send condolences such as "RIP Chris, you'll be beating women in hell from now to eternity." Ouch!

  • Jon Bon Jovi: According to reports, Bon Jovi died in hospital after been found in a coma from a cardiac arrest. Jovi found the funny side though and posted the above picture on his Facebook.

  • Justin Bieber: 'RIP Justin Bieber' is probably the most common trending death topic on Twitter over the past few years. If something dreadful does happen to the young star in the future, we don't think anyone will believe it.

  • Eminem: Car crashes seem to be a popular death in the hoax world. Eminem apparenly died in a fatal car accident with Lars Ulrich in the passenger seat in 2010. His continued living proved these rumours wrong.

  • Britney Spears: Yet another fictional car crash. Many fans believed that Britney and her then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake were killed in a car crash when Dallas radio DJs Kramer and Twitch shared the news on air in 2001.

  • Missy Elliot: Missy Elliot took to Twitter after her death began trending on the social networking site. She responded: "Sadly, someone was that miserable to make up such a cruel rumor! It Makes me work harder make em mad!"

  • Adele: 'RIP Adele' trended on Twitter at the start of 2012, causing online fans of the singer to panic. It was quickly resolved, and her fans changed the meaning of RIP to 'Really Inspiring Person'. Well done, the fans.

  • Kanye West: Another Twitter trend was quickly revealed to be false after his then-girlfriend Amber Rose tweeted: " This RIPKanyeWest topic is not funny and it's NOT TRUE!". She followed up with "He has people like myself and his family that love him very much."

  • Lil Wayne: It's difficult to tell exactly what's been going on with Wayne after he was hospitalised for a seizure - seeing as gossip website TMZ were talking about last rites and medically induced comas, while his team said none of it was true. Still, one thing's true; Lil Wayne is recovering and definitely not dead.

  • Alex Turner: The Arctic Monkeys frontman was the subject of an unfounded hashtag in December 2013, with #RIPAlexTurner trending on Twitter.

  • Robbie Williams: Following the tragic suicide of Robin Williams, thousands took to Twitter to voice their mourning at the loss of the 'Angels' singer instead. They were either not reading the news correctly, misheard or were just being plain insensitive. Either way, we're fairly certain Robbie is still alive.

  • Paul McCartney: Apparently this isn't the real Paul McCartney, he died in 1966 from a traffic incident. This imposter replaced him...